


Little Wonders

by TheNightFury



Category: Big Hero 6
Genre: Baby Hiro, Brotherly Fluff, M/M, Papadashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-13 09:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 46,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4516854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNightFury/pseuds/TheNightFury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toddler Hiro AU. Everything was perfect for Tadashi, he had an amazing boyfriend was at a great college and was so close to graduating. His world gets turned upside down though when his parents die in a car crash leaving him the guardian of his baby brother Hiro. Tadashi now has to find a way to juggle being a college student and a guardian of a five year old.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!! So this is kind of my first slash fanfic and the first fic I've written with Romance as a key element of the story so I'm pretty excited to see what you guys think of it. I noticed the Fredashi fandom doesn't have very many fics and I thought it could use a little more happy fluffiness so I hope you guys enjoy!

Tonight will either make today the best or worst day of Tadashi's life, and the wait to find out which it would be was killing him. The SFIT exhibition was tonight and that's where he would be presenting his final project Baymax, if Professor Callaghan didn't approve of it he would fail this class and Tadashi did not want to disappoint his professor, so Tadashi found himself heading off to school the morning of the showcase to work on Baymax some more. Before the inventor could get out the door however, someone started calling his name,

"Dashi! Dashi!" followed by thundering footsteps and soon Tadashi saw his five year old brother run into the hallway. Grinning like an idiot, Tadashi kneeled down as Hiro flung himself at his brother and lifted Hiro up into the air, hugging him tightly. "Is it time for the show?" Hiro excitedly asked, eyes lighting up. Chuckling Tadashi said,

"No, sorry bud, the shows several hours away." Hiro's face fell as he asked,

"Then why are you going out?"

"I'm just making some last minute tweeks on my project," Tadashi informed him. "Mom and dad will take you over to the school later tonight though."

"But I want to go with you Dashi." Hiro wined, giving his brother his best puppy dog pout.

"You'll get bored Hiro," Tadashi argued. "I promise we'll hang out tonight though."

"But I want to play now!" Hiro wined, nuzzling against his brother. Tadashi nearly caved in then and there, but he knew he needed to stay strong. He had to make sure his project was perfect.

"Come on bud, you know I need to get my project ready."

"Then let me come with!" Hiro exclaimed, lifting his head off of his brother's shoulder. Before Tadashi could answer, their mother called,

"Hiro, your brother will be working and won't have time to do anything. You should just stay here."

"But I won't bother him I pinky swear!" Hiro exclaimed, looking over at their mother.

"Look bud I would love to bring you…" Tadashi mumbled, catching his brother's attention once more. "But today is not the best day for you to visit my lab. Everyone will be getting ready for the showcase. I promise I'll bring you to my lab soon, but today is kind of a big day. Understand buddy?"

"Pinky promise?" Hiro timidly asked, raising a pinky. Grinning widely, Tadashi linked his pinky with Hiro's and said,

"Pinky promise!" Before kissing his cheek causing Hiro to giggle and kiss his cheek back. "I'll see you tonight okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro happily exclaimed as he set Hiro down. "Now hurry up and go so we can get going sooner!" Hiro whined causing Tadashi to laugh and walk about the door.  
\--

Tadashi let out a groan and collapsed into a nearby chair, almost wishing he'd brought Hiro along, his cuddles could make anything better. Technically his project was done and everything was working as it should, but Tadashi felt like there was just something missing, something that would put his project over the top. But for the life of him Tadashi couldn't figure out what. He glanced up at the clock, letting out a groan of frustration when he saw there was less than an hour before he needed to be in the hall for the showcase and buried his face in his hands. If Baymax wasn't perfect…

Tadashi let out a gasp when his chair suddenly started falling backwards, freezing when he realized Fred had been the one leaning the chair back.

"Why would you do that?" Tadashi asked, glaring up at his boyfriend who smiled down innocently at him.

"You looked stressed," Fred responded, leaning forward to awkwardly kiss Tadashi.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," Tadashi scolded while trying to glare at Fred. It was very hard to stay mad at the mascot for long however. Fred carefully lowered the chair back down before walking to the front and sitting down in Tadashi's lap, straddling the inventor.

"Well we have your project here that could help you out if you really did have a heart attack so no problems their!"

"Is that your way of saying 'your project is fine stop working on it and give me attention?'" Tadashi asked, wrapping his arms around Fred's waist.

"Maybe…." Fred admitted, giving Tadashi an innocent smile as he wrapped his arms around Tadashi's neck.

"I just want this to be perfect…" Tadashi mumbled.

"It already is," Fred assured. "And I am not saying that just because you're my boyfriend."

"Right…" Tadashi agreed, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "You would never ever do that."

"Of course not," Fred assured with a straight face. "Never."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence but I would feel a lot better if I could do a few more tests before the showcase," Tadashi argued.

"You've done nothing but tests for the past month!" Fred exclaimed. Tadashi let out a deep sigh, a part of him knew Fred was right, but another was paranoid that something would go wrong during the showcase causing him to fail this class and lose his scholarship… Tadashi shoved the thoughts out of his mind and argued,

"You can never run too many tests!"

"Yes you can!" Fred countered. "You've been so busy with work you've been completely neglecting you're super-hot boyfriend!"

"And my family…" Tadashi guiltily added.

"But I thought your parents encouraged working a ton?" Fred asked making Tadashi sigh,

"Yea but… Hiro's kind of taking it hard. He misses me and well I do miss him too…" Tadashi trailed off, a guilty look on his face. His parents loved work, they were almost always at work and when they were at home, they usually had their computers out or where doing something on their phones. Hiro had at least had Tadashi to hang out with, but for these past few weeks he's had no one…

"Gee thanks," Fred deadpanned, startling Tadashi out of his thoughts. "It's not like you have someone just as awesome as your family being ignored or anything." Tadashi rolled his eyes, fighting a smirk as he said,

"I've seen you more than my family though!"

"Seriously? Wow maybe I shouldn't complain so much." Fred smirked before continuing, "Wow you are an awful son I mean, spending more time with your boyfriend that your parents doesn't even know about then you family? Disgusting."

Tadashi glared at him before saying, "Do you want me to introduce you to them or not?"

"I get to meet your family?" Fred asked, instantly perking up.

"I've wanted to introduce you for a while but I was scared they'd hate me for wanting to date you and… well I'm hoping that if things go well at the showcase they might take it a little better?"

"Buttering people up before delivering bad news is the best way to go," Fred teased.

"I'm hoping you aren't bad news…" Tadashi countered. "Who knows, maybe my parents won't even care."

"I sure hope so…" Fred mumbled.

"Fred, listen-" Tadashi awkwardly began

"I know I know," Fred interrupted. "I need to be on my best behavior for the parents. I know the drill. I may even shower." Tadashi burst out laughing and assured,

"No listen. I just want you to be yourself. I know they'll love you, especially Hiro. I just wanted to say no matter what happens I just… I want to be with you even if my parents throw me out or whatever else. A shower wouldn't hurt anyone thou-" Tadashi was cut off by Fred kissing him again. Fred knocked Tadashi's hat off of his head and started running a hand through his hair as Tadashi pulled the mascot even closer. When the pair broke for air Fred gasped,

"Tonight is going to be the best night ever!" As Tadashi pulled him back in for another kiss he couldn't help but agree.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey Fred, you still down for helping me on stage?” Tadashi asked as he was doing his final prep before he had to go up onstage. Fred had done an excellent job of keeping Tadashi from getting any more tests done between kissing Tadashi senseless and his constant chatter about everything from the latest addition of his favorite comic books to the weather. Fred could talk about drying paint and Tadashi would have kept on listening though. For a while it did wonders in helping with his nerves, but now he was terrified that not testing his creation more was going to backfire spectacularly. 

“Of course!” Fred assured, and sensing Tadashi’s nervousness, he tightly wrapped his arms around him and added, “Baymax is amazing, they’re gonna love him!”

“I hope you’re right…” Tadashi whispered as the announcer called, 

“Next presenter, Tadashi Hamada.” 

“Time to blow them away!” Fred exclaimed, flashing Tadashi a wide grin. 

\--

Hiro ran around the house all day, asking his parents constantly how long it would be until they would leave for Tadashi’s show. At first his parents where amused by Hiro’s antics, very soon though they grew annoyed and snapped at him to stop asking. 

As it grew darker and darker outside though Hiro couldn’t resist asking one last time in fear of missing the show entirely.

“Daddy? Shouldn’t we be leaving soon?” Hiro timidly asked. 

Hiro’s father opened his mouth to scold Hiro before looking at the clock and gasping, “Honey! We have to go! We’re going to be late!” He then threw his tablet on the table and picked Hiro up, frantically running around the house to get what they needed. 

“What do you mean late?” Mom asked, poking her head out of her office. 

“We’ll miss Tadashi if we don’t leave now!” Dad snapped, “Now let’s go!” Hiro’s mothers eyes widened in horror before she ran out of the office, grabbing her jacket and purse before running out the front door, followed closely by his father. Hiro was frantically strapped in and they were off, driving much faster than Hiro was used to. Dad was driving roughly, making Hiro nervous. He tried to stay calm by thinking of being at his brother’s show soon. 

“You need to slow down!” Mom snapped, “We’re going way to fast!” As they drove through a light just as it turned red she added, “You just ran that light!”

“I did not!” Dad snapped. “I was past the line before it turned red!” Instead of answering, mom let out a terrified scream.

\--

As Tadashi stepped onto stage, he quickly scanned the crowd trying to spot his friends and family. He almost instantly spotted his friends, but his family was nowhere to be found. Fred, noticing Tadashi’s concern, placed a comforting hand on Tadashi’s shoulder and whispered,

“I’m sure they’re just running a little late.” Tadashi forced himself to smile at Fred as they got into position with Baymax in his charger between them. Tadashi took a deep breath to calm his nerves and lifted the microphone saying,

“Hello everyone, my name is Tadashi Hamada and I would like to show you something that will revolutionize the medical industry! Baymax!” Tadashi gestured over to Fred who excitedly lifted up his shirt and was about to put a piece of duct tape on himself when Tadashi hissed, “Fred, you don’t really have to hurt yourself!”

“If I’m gonna to do this, I’m gonna do this right!” Fred declared, placing the duct tape on his chest and ripping it off shouting, “ow!” Tadashi turned his attention back to the audience, forcing himself to keep a calm smile on his face as Baymax inflated saying,

“Hello I am Baymax, your personal Healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said ‘ow’ on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” And displayed a pain chart on his chest. Tadashi wanted to run around the stage doing victory laps when Baymax inflated and started working properly, but he refrained himself. He needed to focus on impressing Professor Callaghan, and running around the stage would not impress anyone.

“Baymax is designed to activate at any sound of distress and is programmed with over ten thousand medical procedures.” Tadashi continued.

“I will now scan you.” Baymax said when Fred did not answer his question. “Scan complete, you have an epidermal abrasion on your chest.” 

“He can also lift up to a thousand pounds,” Tadashi continued as Baymax scooped Fred up to care for him. 

“You have been a good boy,” Baymax told Fred as he set the mascot down. “Have a lollypop.”

“Yes! I love candy!” Fred exclaimed, taking the lollypop from Baymax.

“I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care.” Baymax continued.

“I am satisfied with my care!” Fred happily exclaimed. Baymax then stepped back into his charging station and deactivated. 

“And that is Baymax, your personal healthcare companion!” Tadashi shouted as the crowd cheered. Tadashi looked over at Professor Callaghan who had an approving smile on his face. Shaking with excitement, Tadashi ran off the stage and was greeted by Fred. 

“They loved you!” Fred exclaimed. Unable to contain himself, Tadashi wrapped his arms around Fred’s waist and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. Fred melted in Tadashi’s embrace and placed a hand behind Tadashi’s neck, deepening the kiss and felt Fred start to play with his hair. After a minute they broke apart for air and Fred exclaimed,

“They loved you!” 

“They really did!” Tadashi agreed trying to catch his breath. 

“It’s a shame your family missed it…” Fred mumbled causing Tadashi to frown. 

“It’s not unlike my parents to miss these things…” Tadashi mumbled. “But Hiro will be devastated…” 

“Tadashi!” Honey Lemon squealed as she ran up to the pair, excitedly throwing her arms around Tadashi. “You where amazing!” 

“Everyone was really impressed,” Wasabi added. 

“Good job,” Gogo added. Tadashi tried to smile at his friends, but he was too worried about his family to put on a very convincing smile. 

“Tadashi? Are you okay?” Honey asked, noticing Tadashi’s concern. A part of Tadashi wanted to just shrug off their concern and focus on enjoying the evening, but another just couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad happened. Tadashi knew he was overreacting, but when it came to Hiro, Tadashi could never seem to stop worrying about him. 

“My family was supposed to be here tonight…” Tadashi finally admitted, “I’m just a little concerned that they didn’t show up…”

“Don’t your parents miss these things all the time?” Gogo asked before blowing another bubble. 

“Yes they do,” Tadashi groaned. “But Hiro has been going on about this for weeks. I think he was more excited than I was…every morning he’d ask how long until the show. I just can’t imagine my parents forgetting to come with him reminding them every few minutes.” 

“They might have gotten going late and probably are still trying to park,” Gogo said. “Stop worrying and woman up.” Tadashi was about to respond when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocked. Tadashi pulled it out and looked at the number, frowning when it was a number he did not recognize. Tadashi answered however saying,

“Hello?”

“Is this Tadashi Hamada?” a male voice asked.

“Um yes… who is this?” Tadashi slowly asked. 

“I’m officer Jarrus, are you Bob and Maria Hamada’s son?”

“Yes I am… did something happen to them?” Tadashi asked, heart pounding madly in his chest. Officer Jarrus hesitated for a moment before saying,

“There’s been an accident; you need to come to San Fransokyo Hospital immediately.”


	3. Chapter 3

Accident? Tadashi's mind couldn't seem to process the words, what kind of accident? Where they okay? What happened? Where they alive? Oh God Hiro….

"Yo Tadashi everything okay?" Wasabi asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. Tadashi tried to answer, but his limbs froze in place with the phone still against his ear.

"Mr. Hamada, are you still their?" Officer Jarrus asked. Tadashi tried to answer, but he couldn't get his body to cooperate, mind reeling from the news. Concerned, Fred gently pried the phone from Tadashi's hand and said,

"Hello this is Fred, Tadashi's b-…uh friend… He kind of froze, what's going on?"

"Tadashi, is everything okay?" Wasabi asked as Fred talked to the officer. Tadashi couldn't even turn his head to look at Wasabi, his mind still reeling from the news he had received.

"What!" Fred exclaimed. "Oh… yea I'll get him down their! Thanks-er well...maybe not… never mind. Come on guys, we need to go!" Fred shouted, hanging up Tadashi's phone.

"What's going on?" Honey Lemon asked in concern.

"Tadashi's parents where in a crash. Wasabi can you drive us to San Fransokyo Hospital?" Fred asked, tentatively reaching out and touching Tadashi's shoulder. Honey Lemon gasped, covering his mouth and asked,

"A-are they…?"

"He wouldn't say. Now we need to go!" Fred snapped, gently pushing Tadashi forward, causing Tadashi to stumble slightly before his legs started cooperating again. Fred quickly guided Tadashi through the crowd of people, hastily throwing apologies over his shoulder as he shoved people out of the way. Tadashi was sure he would have collapsed to the floor by now if it wasn't for Fred practically holding him up as they moved through the crowd. As they approached the doors, Professor Callaghan stepped in their path saying,

"Mr. Hamada! Where are you off to in such a hurry? I wanted to congra-"

"Listen we really don't have time for this," Fred snapped, startling Professor Callaghan.

"Mr. Lee tha-"

"Tadashi's parents where in a car crash and we need to get to the hospital," Honey Lemon gently explained. The professor's eyes widened momentarily before he stepped out of their way saying,

"I'm so sorry Mr. Hamada…I will explain the situation to everyone. I will contact you later…"

"Thanks, let's go!" Gogo exclaimed, running past the professor with Honey Lemon and Wasabi hot on her heels. Fred started to guide Tadashi out, but stopped when Professor Callaghan suddenly reached out and grabbed Tadashi's shoulder saying,

"If there is anything you need, don't hesitate to contact me." Tadashi looked over at him and numbly nodded his head, eyes glossy. Fred led him over to the glass doors and towards the parking lot where Wasabi had already gotten the car and brought it over to the curb closest to the building. The pair climbed into the car and they were off.

As they drove through the city, Tadashi snapped out of his daze and found himself getting more and more frustrated as Wasabi drove, going what felt like Tadashi, well below the speed limit. Tadashi tried to keep himself calm and not snap at Wasabi, but he was quickly losing his patience. Tadashi couldn't take it anymore though when he stopped at a stop light when the light turned yellow even if he could have easily made the light.

"Did you really have to stop for that one!" Tadashi snapped glaring at a car as it drove by in the lane next to theirs.

"The light was yellow!" Wasabi argued.

"You could have made it!" Tadashi snapped.

"Yellow means slow down! Not speed up!" Wasabi cried as the light turned green. Fred placed a hand on Tadashi's shoulder and said,

"Tadashi, snapping at him won't get us their faster." Tadashi wanted to say something, but the look on Fred's face made him take a breath and forced himself not to let out a frustrated growl. A part of Tadashi angrily said he could have gotten to the hospital much faster, another said he'd probably get into an accident. Tadashi shut his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. He was already so tired…He felt someone gently take his hand and opened his eyes to see it was Fred. He tiredly looked at Fred and whispered,

"I'm sorry…" Fred gave his hand a squeeze and whispered,

"It's okay. I can't imagine how hard this must be." Tadashi tried to smile, but he found it took to much energy to do so. "It's okay," Fred assured when he saw Tadashi's half smile. "You don't always have to be the strong one." Tadashi weakly nodded his head, leaning heavily against Fred and felt his boyfriend wrap his free arm around Tadashi. Normally Gogo would mock them mercilessly when they acted too "mushy gushy" but apparently even she couldn't make jokes right now.

Tadashi tried to convince himself that his parents where okay as they pulled up to the hospital. Maybe they just got scraped up badly and needed stitches or worst case they had a broken bone or two. They were fine, he was just being ridiculous. Tadashi kept repeating this to himself as they raced into the hospital, but he really couldn't convince himself that it was true.

The group ran into the hospital and when they reached the receptionists desk they all started talking trying to get the poor woman's attention.

"Everyone please!" She cried. "One at a time! Who got here first?"

"We're together!" Fred said.

"I'm looking for my parents, last name Hamada." She quickly started typing into her computer, asking Tadashi for more information as needed. After a minute her face fell and she said, "I am so sorry Mr. Hamada…it appears…you're parents….they died before they reached the hospital…." Tadashi felt his body go cold and mind go numb. No….this couldn't be happening….they couldn't be…gone…Tadashi felt his legs shaking and give out underneath him. Strong arms wrapped around him before he could hit the ground and gently guided him to a chair. The person sat down next to him and left their hands on his shoulders. Someone else took Tadashi's hands and squeezed them. He finally heard a fuzzy voice filter through his ears saying,

"Tadashi? Tadashi can you hear me?" Tadashi finally focused on the figure and saw Fred looking at him with a mixture of concern and sadness.

"T-th-the-they're…gone…" Tadashi whispered, voice cracking. "I-I…" Tadashi couldn't finish before he completely broke down. Fred wrapped his arms around him and pulled him against his chest. Shaking with sobs, Tadashi wrapped his arms around Fred as he rested his head on top of Tadashi's head. The hands on his shoulders started rubbing them in a soothing matter as he felt more bodies press against him.

Tadashi knew he probably looked like an idiot, but he didn't care. His parents and Hiro where gone…he'd never see th-…Hiro. Oh God Hiro. He was just a child. Tadashi felt his throat tighten as he thought of his baby brother whose life was cut far too short. It was over before it even had begun.

He couldn't breathe, he had nothing left. His family was gone. His parents, his guardians, his inspiration gone, and Hiro….Hiro…his best friend, his precious baby brother, dead. He had so much to live for…he was going to change the world. But now he wouldn't have the chance to do so, and it was all his fault. They were in a car crash. They were only driving to see Tadashi; he killed his parents and brother. He was a murderer. Tadashi screamed into Fred's chest, not caring if he looked ridiculous or disturbed the people around him. It didn't matter, nothing mattered anymore. He wished he was in the damned car as well so he'd be dead as well. He didn't want to be alive when his family was dead. Before Tadashi could sink further into his dark thoughts someone asked,

"Hiro Hamada?" Fred partially pulled away from Tadashi, keeping an arm around his waist saying,

"We're here for him." Tadashi slowly looked up at the doctor and croaked,

"I-I…I thought he was dead…" The doctor kneeled down in front of Tadashi and said,

"No, he's alive…he's scared and asking for his brother. Is that you?" Tadashi numbly nodded his head, unable to form words. The doctor nodded and said,

"I can take you to him." All Tadashi could do was numbly nod his head and follow the doctor, his mind not quiet processing what he was hearing. Was Hiro really alive? He didn't want to get his hopes up only to have them crushed again. But would the doctor lie to him? Wouldn't he only say Hiro was okay if he really meant it?

Tadashi could barely breathe as the doctor led Tadashi to Hiro's room. He didn't even glance over at Fred when he linked his hand with Tadashi's. All he could think about was Hiro. Was he going to be okay? Was he seriously hurt? If he was asking for Tadashi she had to be for the most part okay…right? All Tadashi would do now was sent a prayer that Hiro would be okay because Hiro was all he had left and he wasn't sure what he'd do without his baby brother. Soon the doctor stopped and said,

"I'm sorry but I can only allow one visitor at a time right now." Wordlessly everyone besides Fred started walking back to the waiting room. Fred gave Tadashi's hand a squeeze saying,

"If you need us just come get us. We'll hang out here okay?" He then pecked Tadashi's cheek before letting his hand go and following the others. Tadashi took a deep breath and stepped inside the room, eyes instantly falling on his little brother.

Tadashi felt like he was punched in the gut when he looked at his brother. He looked so small and fragile, lying in the giant bed hooked up to so many machines, his small frame covered in bandages and bruises, his eyes closed as he softly breathed in and out. Tadashi wanted to scoop him up in his arms and hold him and never let him go. But he was afraid he might hurt Hiro if he did that.

"We just want to keep him here overnight to make sure nothing is seriously wrong with him." The doctor explained. "He had several cuts that needed stitches but other than that he should be fine to go in the morning." Tadashi nodded his head and slowly walked over to the chair that was beside the bed and sank down onto it, the doctor wordlessly leaving.

"Hiro…I'm so sorry…." Tadashi whispered, carefully cradling Hiro's hand in one of his own and reaching out to run a hand through Hiro's hair causing Hiro to stir and tiredly mumble,

"Dashi…?"

"Yea buddy, it's me. I'm here, you're safe." Tadashi whispered.

"Mama…? Papa…?" Hiro whispered, eyes growing watery. Fighting back his own tears Tadashi whispered,

"I'm…it's just us now buddy…" Hiro started to tremble as tears streamed down his face.

"A-a-are t-t-they dead?" Hiro whimpered. Unable to fight his own tears Tadashi said,

"Y-yea…they're gone…" Hiro started to cry even harder, Tadashi tried to calm him down but he continued to cry. Tadashi felt his heart clench as he carefully climbed onto the bed and wrapped his arms around Hiro. His brother instantly buried his face in Tadashi's chest, shaking uncontrollably. Tadashi wanted to curl up in a ball and cry right along with Hiro, but he couldn't. He was the oldest sibling; Hiro needed him to be strong. So he would be.


	4. Chapter 4

Tadashi wasn't sure how long he laid their comforting Hiro as he sobbed, but eventually Hiro's cries turned into soft whimpers before falling silent, Hiro drifting off into a restless sleep. Tadashi was reluctant to leave his brother when he was in such a vulnerable state, but he needed to talk to his friends. They shouldn't have to wait around here all night. So, he slowly lifted himself off of the bed, carefully watching Hiro for signs that he would wake up. Thankfully he only shifted before drifting off once more.

Tadashi carefully opened the door and slipped out before shutting it and heading back towards the waiting area. He walked into the area and saw Fred lying across a couple of chairs, Wasabi nervously pacing and Honey Lemon and Gogo sitting next to each other watching Wasabi as he walked back and forth in front of him. Fred glanced over at where Tadashi was standing and immediately sat up saying,

"Tadashi! What are you doing out here?" Tadashi walked over to them and said,

"The doctor told me Hiro would need to stay overnight…and I wanted to let you know so-"

"Tadashi listen," Fred said, standing up and taking Tadashi's hands, "I don't know what these other guys are doing but I'm staying right here with you until you and Hiro can go home."

"You don't have t-" Tadashi began but Fred again cut him off,

"I want to. You're going through some really hard stuff right now and it wouldn't feel right leaving you here alone."

"Thank you…" Tadashi whispered, squeezing Fred's hands. Fred gave Tadashi a warm smile as Gogo declared,

"I think it's safe to say we'll all be staying. Now go be with your brother."  
\----

True to their word they stayed in the hospital for the entire night, not that Tadashi knew until the next morning. He spent most of the night struggling to fall asleep curled protectively around Hiro. Every time Tadashi started to drift off he would jolt awake, terrified his brother was gone. Tadashi tightly held Hiro in his arms, wishing he could fall asleep, but the nightmares kept him awake.

Unfortunately, Hiro didn't even get a good night's rest. He woke up several times throughout the night, crying and calling out for their parents. Tadashi couldn't get much out of him besides that there had been a crash and mommy and daddy where hurt. It broke Tadashi's heart telling him the crash wasn't a nightmare and that it was real. A part of Tadashi kept wishing this was all a nightmare, but he knew better.

Eventually around three a.m. Tadashi drifted off and wasn't disturbed until a nurse shook him awake saying that Hiro could go home. The nurse insisted that Hiro leave the hospital in a wheelchair, so Tadashi rolled Hiro out on a wheelchair and started the process of getting him released. Behind him, he heard the others debating on how to get everyone home.

"Wasabi your car can't hold everyone," Gogo was saying.

"I can make multiple trips!" Wasabi argued.

"But do you own a booster chair?" Honey Lemon asked.

"No but Ta-….wait probably not…" Wasabi mumbled, guiltily glancing over at Tadashi.

"Guys its cool. You three can head home, I got me, Tadashi, and Hiro covered." Fred assured.

"Several problems with that," Gogo said, "One, you don't own a car, two even if you did why would you even own a booster chair and three…."

"Guys I called my parents and they have an old one Hiro can borrow," Fred assured. Before they could argue more, Tadashi finished and walked over to them saying,

"It's cool guys, Fred's got it covered." Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon looked between Fred and Tadashi skeptically.

"Are you sure?" Honey Lemon asked.

"Yes, I promise we'll be fi-…well as, as good as we can be…." Tadashi mumbled. Honey Lemon nodded and Wasabi pulled Tadashi into a hug saying,

"Hey if you need anything just call."

"Thanks…" Tadashi whispered, enjoying the feeling of being held, even if just for a moment.

"I mean it. Anything at all okay?" Wasabi said, pushing Tadashi back to look him in the eye.

"We're your friends Tadashi, we want to help!" Honey Lemon added.

"Thank you, all of you….this…this means a lot…" Tadashi told them. Wasabi smiled and gave his shoulders a squeeze before saying,

"Do you want us to stick around unt-"

"No!" Fred shouted a little too quickly. "I mean uh…."

"No, thank you though. You guys have been here all night." Tadashi said much more calmly. "Please just go home okay? I really appreciate all you've done for me already." Wasabi nodded and said,

"If you're sure…."

"I am," Tadashi assured, forcing himself to smile. Everyone gave Tadashi another hug and then left with Wasabi. Once they were gone Tadashi gave a weak smirk and asked, "Heathcliff?"

Fred sheepishly smiled and admitted, "Yea, when is it ever anyone else?" Tadashi let himself give a small chuckle before turning his attention back to Hiro. He had considered introducing him to everyone but he was worried it would overwhelm him. But it wouldn't hurt to let Hiro meet his big brothers boyfriend. Tadashi kneeled down next to the wheelchair and said,

"Hey Hiro, I want you to meet Fred. He's my…my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Hiro asked, unconsciously huddling closer to the side of the wheelchair Tadashi was kneeling by, "I thought boys only dated girls."

"Usually," Tadashi began with a smile, "But sometimes girls prefer to date other girls and sometimes boys prefer to date other boys."

"Oh…" Hiro mumbled before nervously looking at Fred. "Hi…" Fred smiled down at Hiro warmly before kneeling down in front of him.

"Hi, I'm Fred." Fred said, giving Hiro a wave which Hiro sheepishly returned. "I'm not a scientist but I am a major science enthusiast! Are you a scientist?"

"No…but I want to be…." Hiro mumbled, looking up at Tadashi for approval.

Fred's grin widened as he said, "That's so cool! I bet Tadashi will teach you everything you need to know! Right?"

"He's already inventing," Tadashi explained. He knew Fred knew this, but he also knew the conversation would help Hiro relax. "He's a natural." Fred was about to respond when he froze and reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone.

"Oh, Heathcliff is outside." He said.

"Great, let's get going…" Tadashi sighed, scooping Hiro up into his arms. "By the way…how did Heathcliff get a booster seat?"

"I was going to have him buy one," Fred admitted, "But then he remembered one of the cleaning ladies son just outgrew his so he asked to borrow it."

Tadashi let out a relieved sigh and said, "Thanks, that means a lot…hey um if she doesn't need it anymore….could I maybe buy it off of her. I imagine Hiro's…can't be used anymore…" Tadashi felt his heart clench and held Hiro tighter.

Fred smiled softly at Tadashi and whispered, "I'll ask."

The pair approached the curb and Heathcliff opened the door for them. As Tadashi leaned inside to get Hiro buckled he said,

"Thank you for coming and getting the booster seat for Hiro."

"It was no problem Mr. Hamada," Heathcliff assured. "And….may I offer my condolences for your loss?" He added, causing Tadashi to freeze. He took a deep breath to calm himself and forced his tears back saying,

"Y…thanks…" He would not cry in front of Hiro. No way. He was the eldest he needed to be strong. As Tadashi and Fred got into the limo, Tadashi had to fight the urge to dump everything he was feeling onto Fred's shoulders. He couldn't though, not in front of Hiro. The five year old was going through enough as it was. He'd have to wait until they were alone.

The ride back to Tadashi's house was painfully quiet, but Tadashi just didn't know what he could say that wouldn't result in him bursting into tears. Thankfully Fred seemed to understand this and didn't say anything during the ride to Tadashi's house. After what felt like an eternity they finally reached Tadashi's home. As he unbuckled Hiro it took all of his willpower to keep a calm and collected face on for Hiro. With shaking hands Tadashi approached the door while holding Hiro and tried to put the key in but dropped it. Fred instantly bent over and picked it up for him and said,

"I got it," before unlocking the door for Tadashi.

Tadashi gave Fred a weak smile and asked, "C-can you s-stay for a little?" his voice trembling. He was having a hard time keeping the façade up at this point. He knew any minute he'd crack and he wanted…no needed Fred there with him when he did. Fred seemed to understand this and said,

"Yea, you get Hiro settled and I'll talk with Heathcliff." Tadashi tried to smile at Fred, but Tadashi knew it was a pathetic one. Fred kissed Tadashi's cheek and added, "I'll be inside in a minute." Tadashi nodded his head and slipped inside, and carried Hiro upstairs and into his room. It physically hurt to be in his home, their where reminders of his parents everywhere. Pictures on the walls, his father's computer discarded on the coffee table…

Tadashi shook his head and focused on getting his brother up the stairs and into his room. Once in Hiro's room, Tadashi set Hiro down on the bed and heavily sat down next to him. It took a moment for Tadashi to be able to form the words he needed to say.

"Listen buddy…I…I…Fred and I need to talk…and we…I need you to stay up here…get some sleep maybe…"

"Am I in trouble?" Hiro asked, eyes watering.

"No, no buddy you're not." Tadashi whispered, running a hand through Hiro's hair.

"Are you guys fighting?"

Tadashi gave Hiro a weak smile and assured, "No. I promise it's nothing bad…I just need some time with him….like when we have a bro's night. Do you understand?"

Hiro nodded and mumbled, "Yea…" Before reaching up and tightly hugging Tadashi. "If you need me yell okay?" Tadashi gave a genuine smile and hugged Hiro back saying,

"Okay." Tadashi then released him and Hiro got settled on his bed to try and catch up on sleep as Tadashi made his way back down the stairs and found Fred settled on the couch. Tadashi collapsed next to Fred, trembling.

"Hey, it's okay," Fred soothingly said, reaching over to rub Tadashi's back. "I'm here for you."

"I don't know what I'm going to do!" Tadashi shouted. "I-I….I can't lose Hiro but…I can't go to school get a job and take good care of Hiro! I…I can't keep the house! I'll have to sell it all the while…while planning my parents funeral…I can't do it all alone!"

"Hey, hey," Fred said, grabbing Tadashi's shoulder with his free hand. "You are not alone. Me, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Gogo, we are all here for you and are going to help you however we can."

"It's not enough!" Tadashi exclaimed. "What will happen when social services shows up? Even if I worked full time I couldn't afford college and food and rent! I…I have to-to drop out…"

"Drop out?" Fred asked. "But going to SFIT was-is your dream!"

"I can't lose Hiro," Tadashi whispered, tears streaming down his face. "He's more important…"

"If you drop out you won't be able to get a real job ever an-" Fred began, frustrating Tadashi. Why couldn't he understand? Why did he refuse to understand? His parents…would they understand? Tadashi didn't know, and now he'd never know. Before he could stop, Tadashi completely broke down crying. He couldn't do this! Fred wrapped his arms around Tadashi, tightly holding onto him in a comforting manner and started to rock him. Tadashi buried his face in Fred's shoulder desperately clinging onto him.

No words were spoken; Fred simply let Tadashi cry and held him. He knew he should try and be quiet so Hiro couldn't hear, but he just couldn't. Tadashi felt Fred start running a hand through his hair in a comforting manner, and felt a wave of relief wash over him. Fred was here, he wasn't going anywhere. He didn't need to have it all together. He knew Fred would never judge him for crying.

Having someone to hold him didn't make the pain go away though. His parents' absence left a gaping hole in his heart. And he knew Hiro was feeling the same. He didn't know a thing about raising a child, and now he'd have to do it all on his own. Fred tightened his grip around Tadashi reminding him that he wasn't completely alone. The thought should have comforted him, but his chest still ached and he desperately wished his parents would walk through the front door and tease him for overreacting.

Eventually his tears stopped flowing and his body stopped trembling leaving Tadashi slumped against Fred feeling completely drained. Tadashi wanted to curl up in his bed and fall asleep, but he didn't want to leave the comfort of Fred's arms. His grip around Tadashi hadn't loosened since Tadashi's cries had quieted and he wondered if Fred would mind if he fell asleep in Fred's arms.

Tadashi wanted to say something, but everything felt so heavy and he couldn't seem to find the energy to do anything but lay in Fred's arms. Fred didn't seem to mind as he leaned down to kiss Tadashi's forehead and continued to run a hand through Tadashi's hair. Tadashi felt his eye's drift close as Fred's gentle rocking slowed so he could shift Tadashi into a more comfortable position. He could feel Fred's chest raising and falling beneath him as his mind grew foggy. Maybe Fred could keep the nightmares at bay….

Loud knocking on the door shattered the moment and startled Tadashi into alertness. No, not now. He couldn't handle visitors….the knocking continued and Tadashi started to untabgle himself from Fred's arms and stand up, but Fred pushed him down saying,

"I'll get it." Tadashi shakily nodded his head and Fred hurried over to the door. Tadashi couldn't bring himself to care who it was. He just wanted Fred back holding him and telling him it was okay. After a minute, Tadashi heard Fred reluctantly call,

"Tadashi….you better come out here…." Exhausted, Tadashi slowly stood and dragged himself to the door and found himself face to face with a tall dark man wearing a suit and sun glasses.

"Tadashi Hamada?"

"Yes…" Tadashi said, getting nervous.

"The name's Bubbles, Cobra Bubbles."

"Apparently he's your social worker…" Fred said.

"We need to talk." Bubbles said.


	5. Chapter 5

“Talk?” Tadashi asked, struggling to process the information he’d been given, but his brain was still foggy and moving sluggishly. His parents hadn’t been dead for twenty four hours and social services where already on his doorstep? 

“Yes, may I come in?” A part of Tadashi wanted to slam the door in his face or beg for a little more time; but Tadashi knew that would look bad. So, Tadashi reluctantly stepped aside and said, 

“I-uh…of course.” 

Bubbles walked inside and said, “Thank you.” Trying to be a good host Tadashi walked over to the couch and said, 

“Please take a seat.” Bubbles sat down in the single chair while Fred and Tadashi sat down side by side on the couch. 

“Now, let’s get right to business. I assume you want to become Hiro’s legal guardian?”

“Yes,” Tadashi said. “He’s my brother, I can’t lose him!” 

“How do you plan on caring for him with no job?” Bubbles asked. How did he already know about that? Tadashi forced himself to focus on the conversation at hand and sat up a little straighter saying,

“I’m on summer break now so I’m going to find a job and…and I’ll most likely drop out of college.”

“Tadashi you have a schola-” Fred argued but Tadashi cut him off,

“Yes it pays for tuition but it doesn’t cover textbooks which are really expensive, especially now that I’m starting to take core classes nor can it pay for supplies for projects which I do a lot of. Not to mention, all that time in classes I could instead spend at a job making money.” 

“If you drop out you might not ever be able to go back th-” Fred argued to Tadashi cut him off,

“I don’t care Hiro is more important.”

“Their ha-”

“Excuse me but who are you?” Bubbles asked, pointing a finger at Fred. 

“I’m his-

“He’s my friend,” Tadashi snapped, glaring at Fred. 

“If you’re a friend then why are you here?” Bubbles asked. 

“I drove him home from the hospital and he asked me to sta-” Fred began but Bubbles turned his attention back to Tadashi and snapped, 

“You don’t have a car?”

“Not anymore…well I actually don’t know. The crash happened last night and I was with Hiro the whole time. The officer I spoke to didn’t mention the car and I was more worried about my family to ask.” Bubbles did not look pleased. He sighed and said,

“Listen, I know you care a lot about your brother, and normally I would give you some time to get everything sorted. But you do not have a job and that is something I cannot ignore for very long. What will you do when you run out of food?”

“I have a card linked to my parents’ account that I can use unt-” Tadashi began.

“No you can’t,” Bubbles said. “You parents account would have been frozen by now.”

“What?” Tadashi asked, freezing. “Why would it?”

“Whenever someone dies any account with their name in it is frozen until the will and who will get the money gets sorted out.” Bubbles explained. Tadashi felt his heart start pounding madly in his chest. He had an account but it probably only had about a hundred dollars in it at most. 

Tadashi forced himself to keep calm as he said, “Okay well I have some money I can us-”

“And when that runs out?” Bubbles demanded. “Sure you might eventually get your parents money but that takes time, anywhere from six months to a year. And that money won’t last forever even if you somehow have enough to last you six months. Not to mention, if they never wrote a will you might not ever see that money. Do your parents even have life insurance?”

“I-I doubt it…” Tadashi admitted. He was almost positive they never even wrote a will. The subject had come up before and every time they insisted they didn’t need it because they were young and healthy and they had a long time before they needed to worry about that. 

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Bubbles sighed. “It’s likely you won’t be able to stay here then.”

“I can find an apartment,” Tadashi assured.

“If you had a job which you do not currently,” Bubbles snapped. “You need at minimum first and last month’s rent for that which I highly doubt you have enough for. You need a job and if you cannot get a job you cannot care for Hiro.” 

“What are you saying?” Tadashi asked feeling light headed. He was going to take Hiro away. His parents haven’t even been gone a day and he’d already failed them miserably. 

“I am giving you a week to find a stable job or I’ll have to take Hiro.” Bubbles said, standing up. 

“A week?” Tadashi whispered, his limbs frozen. There was no way he could get something that quick…

“I’m being very generous.” Bubbles sternly said. “Good day.” With that he walked out the door. Tadashi knew he should have followed him out, but he could hardly breathe. He had to somehow find a job, plan his parents’ funeral, sell the house and find a suitable apartment to live in. Tadashi slumped over and buried his face in his hands. What was he going to do?

“I can’t do this…” Tadashi breathed, his eyes growing watery. Fred kneeled down in front of him and whispered,

“You’re not alone. I’ll do everything I can to help.” 

“What can you do?” Tadashi snapped, looking up. “You can’t just make a job for me appear! Or get this house sold or make an affordable place to live come out of the woodworks!” 

“No I can’t,” Fred agreed, placed a hand on Tadashi’s cheek. “Let me worry about the funeral okay?”

“I can’t let you do that,” Tadashi said. “It’s my parents it should be my pro-”

“I bet they’d want you to focus on finding a job so you don’t lose Hiro.” Fred argued. 

“I don’t even know how I’m going to pay for it…” Tadashi moaned.

“Hey, hey, let me worry about that.” 

“No,” Tadashi firmly said, shaking his head. “I can’t. I-it’s too much…”

“It’s not too much,” Fred assured, lifting his other hand to cradle Tadashi’s face. “I want to help you. I want you to be happy and keeping Hiro will do that so I am going to do everything I can to make sure that happens!” 

Tadashi reached up and held Fred’s wrists mumbling, “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

Smiling, Fred said, “I think it’s the other way around.” A small smile made its way across Tadashi’s face and he said, 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Fred replied, pecking Tadashi’s lips, “Now, try and get a little sleep, brush up your application and go job hunting. I’ll worry about the funeral and I can look around for a place for you and Hiro that’s more affordable.” 

Tadashi pressed his forehead against Fred’s mumbling, “I-I don’t know what I’d do without you…you’re doing so much I how can I re-”

“You don’t need to,” Fred assured. “I’m doing this because I love you. You are worth it.” 

Despite everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours, Fred seemed to have a way to make Tadashi smile. Fred had been there for him through everything, the high and the low he knew Fred would be right by his side with endless support and love. Tadashi felt the tears he’d tried to hold back spill over, and felt Fred’s thumbs gently wipe them away. Tadashi knew words couldn’t even begin to describe how much Fred meant to him, so he kissed Fred and hoped that could be enough. 

Fred let out a small moan of pleasure but didn’t move to deepen the kiss. Knowing Fred would be there gave him strength. No, it wouldn’t be easy, but he was not alone. After a minute they reluctantly broke apart and Fred said,

“Tadashi…about earlier…I know this is your decision but…I don’t want you to do something you’d regret.”

“Fred I understand,” Tadashi sighed, “But I just don’t see how-”

“A couple weeks,” Fred interrupted pulling away from Tadashi. “Please just wait a couple of weeks before you drop out. You never know what all will happen.”

“Like losing Hiro…” Tadashi darkly muttered. Fred didn’t say it, but he knew that was partially what Fred was thinking about. And as much as he wanted to be angry at Fred for even thinking like that, he knew Fred had a valid point.

“Not necessarily,” Fred whispered, looking hurt. “Just….anything. I would hate to see you give up your dream for no reason.” 

“Hiro is a good reason,” Tadashi firmly said, making Fred look even more hurt.

“I just…what if you can have both?” Fred softly asked. “I know you don’t have to worry about paying just yet so….would you do this for me? I will stand by you no matter what you chose and will love you; I just want you to be sure this is the right thing for you to do. Trust me; you don’t want to make these kinds of decisions when you’re really emotional.” This made Tadashi pause. Fred was doing so much for him right now and all he was asking in return was that Tadashi wait before making a potentially life changing decision. How could Tadashi call himself a good boyfriend and say no to that? How could he even think about saying no to Fred right now? He owed him so much….

“Alright…I’ll wait to drop out.” Tadashi promised, making Fred smile. 

“Thank you. Now please try and get a little sleep. You look exhausted and that is not good for job interviews.” 

“How do you know I’ll even get an interview?” Tadashi asked with a small smile. 

“Pssh with a pretty face like yours how could you not?” 

A grin on his face Tadashi argued, “There’s more to work then having a pretty face.” 

“True,” Fred agreed. “But it certainly helps!” 

“I guess I can’t argue with that logic,” Tadashi agreed, a small laugh escaping him before feeling guilty. How could he laugh so soon after his parents died? Sensing Tadashi’s distress, Fred assured, 

“Hey it’s okay. Whatever your feeling I know your parents wouldn’t be angry.”

“You never even knew my parents…” Tadashi sighed. 

“No but anyone who could raise someone as amazing as you can’t possibly be very bad,” Fred countered. Tadashi felt himself blush as he mumbled, 

“Thanks…” Fred smiled and kissed his forehead saying, 

“Now seriously, get some sleep. I bet you didn’t at the hospital and you’ll need the rest.” 

“All right all right,” Tadashi said as Fred stood, gently pulling Tadashi to his feet as he did so. 

“Good,” Fred said, nodding his head. “I’ll call tomorrow okay?” 

“Okay…” Tadashi reluctantly agreed as he walked Fred to the door. “Thank you again. For doing all this.” Fred gave Tadashi’s hand another squeeze and assured,

“You don’t need to keep thanking me okay? I know you’d do the same for me.” Giving him a pain filled smile Tadashi said,

“I know….I just hope I never have to…I wouldn’t wish this on anyone…”

“I understand completely.” Fred pecked Tadashi’s cheek again and slipped outside, leaving Tadashi alone again. No, I’m not alone Tadashi told himself firmly. I have Hiro and Fred will be here whenever I need him. With that thought firmly in mind Tadashi made his way to his room to try and get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Notes
> 
> Just in case people are confused about some of the stuff mentioned above (in the U.S. at least and according to my parents) usually when their is a death every account associated with that person is frozen so Tadashi wouldn't be able to use his parents money. Bubbles also brought up Life Insurance because if they had it (which according to my parents they know a lot of people who don't have it) the boys would usually be given enough to sustain themselves for awhile. Now maybe most people have it but my parents have talked about knowing people who won't get life insurance or a will simply because they're young and don't think anything can happen to them. Anyways sorry for the long note if you have any questions about the chapter or want to point out something I possibly got wrong feel free to message me otherwise I hope you enjoyed the chapter!!


	6. Chapter 6

Tadashi tried to get some sleep, but he kept waking up in a cold sweet and would run to check to make sure Hiro was really okay. After about three hours of this Tadashi gave up any hope of sleep and wandered down the stairs. If he was going to go out job hunting, he needed to find someone to keep an eye on Hiro. Without even thinking about it Tadashi started to dial Fred’s number before freezing. No, Fred was already doing so much; he couldn’t ask him to do more. If he kept bugging Fred he would start to get sick of him, so instead he dialed Wasabi’s number. 

“What’s up man?” Wasabi asked after the second ring.

“Hey Wasabi…I-I hate to do this to you but…are you free?”

“Yea of course, what do you need?”

“Can…can you watch Hiro for me? I…I need to find a job…” Tadashi reluctantly explained.

“Yea I can but…is now a good time? I mean it’s…Hiro just got home from the hospital…” Wasabi stammered. Tadashi knew what he almost said but chose not to comment.

“Yea but social services stopped by. I-I have to find a job in the next week o-or…or I…”

“I’ll be over in like fifteen minutes!” Wasabi assured before hanging up. Tadashi let out a heavy sigh before collapsing onto a chair. The day had barely started, but Tadashi was already exhausted. A part of Tadashi wondered why he was even bothering, how could he possibly find a job in a week? He’d never had a job before, his resume only had school things, and he only had Professor Callaghan now as a reference. Maybe he could use his other professors but none of them where really good references. The more Tadashi thought about it, the more hopeless it seemed…

“Dashi?” Hiro asked, poking his head into the kitchen. 

“Oh hey buddy,” Tadashi said, forcing himself to smile. “I thought you were still sleeping.”

“I couldn’t…” Hiro mumbled, shuffling over to stand in front of Tadashi, holding his arms out. Tadashi reached down and pulled Hiro onto his lap and hugged him close saying,

“I’m sorry to hear that buddy.” Hiro shrugged and nuzzled up against Tadashi. “Are you hungry?”

“No…” Hiro mumbled. 

“You need to eat something buddy,” Tadashi said, frowning. “How about a slice of toast?” 

“My tummy doesn’t feel good…” Hiro mumbled. 

“Maybe later then…” Tadashi sighed, defeated. He just didn’t have the energy to fight him right now. He didn’t have the energy to leave the house even. But he had to if he wanted to keep Hiro. For the next ten minutes the pair sat in silence, Hiro seemingly not in the mood to do much other than cuddle, and Tadashi didn’t have the willpower to try and coax anything out of the five year old. 

A loud knock started Tadashi out of his thoughts. He quickly stood and set Hiro down on the chair, but when he tried to leave Hiro clung onto him, whimpering. 

“I’m just going to answer the door,” Tadashi tiredly sighed. Hiro let out another whimper but let go and started to suck on his thumb. Tadashi suppressed a groan and went to answer the door where Wasabi was patiently waiting for him.

“Wasabi thank you so much for-” Before Tadashi could even finish Wasabi pulled him into a tight hug asking,

“You holding up okay?”

“No…” Tadashi reluctantly admitted. He felt like he was falling apart, but somehow he was supposed to find the energy to go out and find a job? “I have no idea how I’m supposed to find a job in just a week and Hiro was refusing to eat and now he’s freaking out on me and probably will start crying when I leave!”

“Hey it’s cool. I can handle it,” Wasabi assured. “He was just in an accident where his parents died. It’s understandable that he’d be a little clingy.”

“I know…” Tadashi groaned. “I just feel overwhelmed.” 

“If I could job hunt for you I would,” Wasabi sympathetically said. “But I can’t do that. I can babysit though.”

“And that helps, a lot.” Tadashi assured. “I can’t pay you right now…and it might be awhile before I c-”

“Don’t worry about paying me okay?” Wasabi said. 

“I can’t not pay you though!” Tadashi exclaimed. 

“And I can’t let you pay me,” Wasabi countered. 

“All right,” Tadashi groaned. “You win! Why don’t I introduce you to Hiro? Maybe he’ll be a little calmer about this…” Wasabi nodded in agreement and the pair walked back into the kitchen to find Hiro rocking himself back and forth, frantically sucking his thumb. Tadashi kneeled down in front of the chair and said,

“Hey you okay?” Hiro shook his head, refusing to remove his thumb from his mouth. “Listen…I…I have to go but my friend Wasabi will take good care of yo-”

“Why are you leaving?” Hiro cried, eyes growing watery. 

“If I want to keep you buddy I have to get a job,” Tadashi explained. 

“Why?” Hiro whimpered. 

“Because….some very powerful people said I had to…” Tadashi sighed.

“Can I come with you?” Hiro asked, lip quivering. 

“No,” Tadashi quickly said, forcing himself to look away. “I’m sorry buddy but you need to stay here.”

“But I need you Dashi,” Hiro whimpered. Tadashi was tempted to give into those big brown eyes that begged him not to go, but he couldn’t. Tadashi looked Hiro in the eye and soothingly told him, 

“Hiro I need you to stay here okay? I can’t take you while I’m looking for a job and I can’t not look for one either. So please just stay here with Wasabi, I’ll only be gone a couple of hours at most.” Tadashi hoped Hiro would understand, but unfortunately, tears started streaming down Hiro’s face and he jumped off the chair and raced out of the room. A part of Tadashi wanted to go after him, but another knew he couldn’t waste so much time trying to calm Hiro down. 

“I should probably just go…” Tadashi groaned.

“Dressed like that?” Wasabi asked. 

“What’s wrong with my-? Oh…right…” Tadashi groaned, realizing he was still wearing the same clothes he’d worn at the showcase. Was that only yesterday? It felt like a lifetime ago. Groaning Tadashi dragged himself back up the stairs to change into something more appropriate. He forced himself to ignore Hiro’s cries and focus on the task at hand. As he got changed, Tadashi wondered if Hiro would ever forgive him for leaving like this. He knew from experience though that Hiro would never let him leave if he walked into his room, and how could he not go? If he didn’t he and Hiro would be separated for good. Hiro would understand, eventually. Or at least that’s what Tadashi hoped. Once he was changed he wandered back down the stairs to find Wasabi critically eyeing Tadashi’s outfit.

“Defintiely better but uh I think you need to lose the hat.” Wasabi informed him. Tadashi’s hand flew to his head where his SFIT hat sat. When had he put that on? Tadashi was just so used to wearing it he had thrown it on without even thinking about it. Reluctantly Tadashi pulled it off of his head and awkwardly set it down on the coffee table. It felt wrong not wearing the hat, it had been a gift from his father when he got into SFIT and he had worn it nearly every day since. Fred said he looked way better without it, something about how much he loved being able to freely run his hands through Tadashi’s hair? Not wearing it so soon after his parents’ death though made him feel vulnerable. Like he was throwing away the last piece of them that he had.

“Way better,” Wasabi declared, not noticing Tadashi’s inner turmoil. “No go get that job!”

\----

Unfortunately it was not nearly as easy as Wasabi made it seem. Though it was summer, most businesses had already hired and trained for their summer jobs. Most business said they liked him or he seemed like a hard worker and they would keep his resume and consider him if there was a job opening. Every rejection just made Tadashi want to scream. He was trying to keep his brother! Didn’t they understand he needed a job now? 

These people didn’t care about his troubles though; they only cared about their business and their people. Some orphan’s plight didn’t concern them. Orphan…Tadashi didn’t like to think about it but both he and Hiro where orphans now. People didn’t help poor little orphans, they had to help themselves.

For most of the afternoon Tadashi’s mind wandered back to Hiro. Had Wasabi managed to calm him down? Did he finally eat something? As it grew dark out, Tadashi finally had to admit defeat and trudged home, feeling even more miserable and drained then before. 

As Tadashi approached his house, he hesitated before opening the door. Being away from home hurt, but somehow, being home hurt even more. At home he was constantly reminded that his parents were gone. As much as the reminders hurt, it was hard to be away from the house for too long. He felt both a strong urge to cling onto what remained of his parents, but a painful need to get away from the painful memories. He couldn’t think about that though, Hiro needed him to be strong so he would be. Tadashi straightened himself and unlocked the door, stepping inside. Immediately Wasabi appeared at the door whispering,

“Hey how was the hunt?”

“Terrible…” Tadashi grunted, collapsing face first into the couch. 

“I know it’s hard but you can’t expect to find a job in one day.”

“Or a week…” Tadashi grumbled, angry at the dumb social worker. He had to know what he was asking was impossible! 

“Hey, just keep at it okay?” 

Tadashi asked, “How’s Hiro?”

“He’s calmer now,” Wasabi said. “I kind of explained what was going on.”

“Dashi?” Hiro tentatively asked, slowly shuffling into the room, clutching his stuffed toy to his chest. Tadashi felt his heart clench when he saw Hiro’s puffy eyes and the dried tear stains on his cheeks. 

“Hey why don’t I go and give you two some alone time?” Wasabi softly suggested. 

“Yea. I um…thanks again for helping…” Tadashi tentatively said. 

“I said anything and I meant it okay?” Wasabi assured. “Now go have some brotherly bonding or whatever.” He added before walking out the door. Tadashi awkwardly turned on his side and said,

“Hey buddy…you feeling better?” Hiro nodded his head and shuffled a little closer. “Listen….about earlier. I’m sorry I was so harsh…I’m just kind of stressed and… I know it’s not an excuse but…”

“It’s okay….” Hiro mumbled. “’Sabi explained…I’m sorry I fussed…” Tadashi smiled and said,

“It’s okay. But…I’m going to have to go out again tomorrow…” Hiro’s eyes watered and he looked like he was going to fight, but surprisingly refrained. Tadashi sat up and started running a hand through Hiro’s hair. “I know it’s hard, but if you want to keep living with me I have to keep going out until I find a job.” 

“I know…” Hiro whimpered. “But I really don’t like it…” Tadashi carefully picked Hiro up and hugged him tightly saying,

“Me too buddy….me too.”

“I got you a ‘pology gift…” Hiro sheepishly mumbled. 

“You didn’t have to buddy,” Tadashi assured.

“I wanted to,” Hiro said, pulling out a bag of gummy bears from his pocket.

“Where did you get those?” Tadashi asked. 

“They’re the ones mama and papa gave me…” Hiro mumbled. “They make me happy and since you seem sad I thought they’d make you happy too…” 

Tadashi smiled and ruffled Hiro’s hair saying, “Thanks buddy but I really can’t take them, they’re yours.” 

“But I’m giving them to you,” Hiro reasoned. “So that makes them yours.” 

Tadashi considered arguing more, but he could tell Hiro would keep fighting him on this, but Hiro also looked like he needed some cheering up. Smiling he said, “Alright how about we share them?”

“Okay!” Hiro agreed, a smile growing on his face. Tadashi opened the bag and split the gummy bears, being sure to give Hiro all the red ones and enjoyed their impromptu snack. He knew this would spoil his and Hiro’s dinner, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. Hiro was smiling again and that’s what was most important.


	7. Chapter 7

Though Wasabi had been extremely optimistic about Tadashi finding a job, the next several days passed with no one even remotely considering Tadashi in the near future. Though job hunting was rapidly becoming a complete disaster, Hiro was slowly getting better about Tadashi leaving. The day before Tadashi’s deadline, Hiro didn’t even cry. Sure he looked at Tadashi with those big brown eyes that practically begged him not to go, but he stayed calm. Tadashi wasn’t sure if it was because he was finally getting comfortable with being separated from Tadashi or if it was because Fred was watching him and he already kind of knew him. Tadashi forced the thought out of his mind. Now was definitely not the time for this. 

As Tadashi feared, his parents did not have life insurance and the bank was demanding money. They had only moved into the house two years ago, though the bank was willing to work with him to stay in the house, Tadashi just didn’t see himself getting in a situation where he could afford to keep making house payments in the near future. Tadashi was sure he wouldn’t see any money from selling the house unfortunately. Just another thing for Tadashi to add to his growing list of concerns. But at least insurance was giving him money for the car, apparently he would get a check for the value of the car, Tadashi didn’t want money for a new car, he wanted his parents! Getting angry at the insurance company wouldn’t bring them back and the dumb car was the least of Tadashi’s worries. If he couldn’t find a job how could he find a place to live? Sure his friends would let him stay with them for a while but he couldn’t live in his friends’ houses forever, especially if he couldn’t pay them. And even if he had a place it would be without Hiro. He didn’t think he could stand to lose the only family he had left.

Tadashi kept hoping that this was all just some horrible nightmare and that he would wake up to find his parents alive and well. But he never did. Every morning he woke up with the knowledge that his parents where never coming back and that best case scenario he was now responsible for raising his little brother. Tadashi refused to let himself even think about the worst case scenario. As his deadline approached though Tadashi couldn’t keep trying to deny the inevitable. 

He tried to keep a brave face, but he just couldn’t. Tadashi groaned at the darkening sky and realized at this point continuing to search was pointless. Even if it wasn’t dark, Tadashi had been to nearly every business in San Fransokyo that he had even a remote chance of getting a job in with no luck. He was jobless and hopeless. Tadashi wasn’t sure how he made it home; tears clouded his vision as he angrily drove through the streets. Tadashi wasn’t sure who he was angrier at, Bubbles for giving him an impossible task, every person in this town who refused to give him a job, the bank, or the bastard who took his parents and caused all of this. Barely able to see through his tears, Tadashi pushed the door open and stumbled inside, nearly running into Fred. 

“Where’s Hiro?” Tadashi chocked, not wanting to fall apart in front of Hiro. 

“He’s upstairs,” Fred assured. Grabbing Tadashi’s arm and leading him to the couch, pulling Tadashi into his arms, where he completely broke down.

“I-I…I d-don’t know…I-I’m going to lose Hiro and…I…I can’t lose him too!” Tadashi stammered.

“I wish there was something I could do…” Fred whispered, running a soothing hand through Tadashi’s hair. Tadashi couldn’t find the words to respond. He didn’t know what he would do now. By tomorrow evening, he will have lost everything. He’d have to bury his parents with the knowledge that he wasn’t good enough to take care of his baby brother. At least Fred didn’t try and tell him it would be okay, he just held Tadashi and let him cry. 

He was sure how long he cried, but when he finally got some semblance of control back, Fred gently pushed Tadashi away and said,

“Tadashi, listen to me. I know you’re hurting really badly right now and I want to be with you…but…maybe you need to spend what time you have left with Hiro.” 

“I-I can’t do this alone!” Tadashi protested. 

“Look, I promise I-I’ll come back tomorrow,” Fred assured, laying a hand on his cheek. “But it wouldn’t be right for me to be here tonight…you need to be with Hiro. If you don’t spend this time with him…you’re going to regret it.” A part of Tadashi knew Fred was right, but another part wasn’t sure he could be strong for that long. “You don’t need to be strong right now…just be with him okay?” Fred said. 

Tadashi gave Fred a watery smile and mumbled, “How do you always know what to say?”

“I don’t know,” Fred admitted. “I just listen to my gut…”

“Well your gut is pretty good at this…” Tadashi mumbled. Fred grinned and said,

“Just go up their okay?” Tadashi sighed and said,

“Okay…just please come back tomorrow?”

“I will,” Fred assured, standing up.

Tadashi flashed him a watery smile before standing as well and following him to the door. He opened the door for Fred and said,

“Dr-…or I guess….Heathcliff drive safe okay?”

“I’ll be okay. No go be with your brother.” Fred said, kissing his cheek and walking away. Tadashi slowly closed the door and dragged himself up the stairs, a part of him hoping Hiro would be asleep so he wouldn’t have to tell Hiro that he was going to have to leave in the morning. Tadashi knocked on the open door, noticing Hiro sitting on his bed, holding his Baymax doll that Tadashi made for him. 

“Hey buddy, couldn’t sleep?” Tadashi asked, sitting down.

“No…” Hiro mumbled. “Did you find a job?”

“No…” Tadashi sighed, defeated. 

“Will…will I have to leave?” Hiro asked, tearing up. 

“I’m sorry,” Tadashi whispered, feeling his own eyes watering, “I tried…” 

“I want to stay with you,” Hiro cried. Tadashi felt his heart clench as he pulled Hiro onto his lap. 

“I know…I don’t want to lose you either…” Hiro buried his face in Tadashi’s chest and didn’t say anything. He started to shake as he wrapped his arms tightly around Hiro, gently rocking him back and forth, silently letting his own tears flow. He didn’t think there was anything that could be said. It was over.

\---

Fred had honestly never felt so miserable in his life. He hadn’t been able to do anything but hold Tadashi as he cried, knowing tomorrow Hiro would be taken away. It was so sick and wrong; Tadashi had already lost his parents, why did they want to take his brother away as well? They probably wouldn’t even let Hiro go to the funeral…

“I take it Mr. Hamada could not find a job?” Heathcliff asked a small frown on his face. 

“No…” Fred sighed. “He’s….devastated.”

“It’s unfortunate that this happened…” Heathcliff sighed. 

“That’s an understatement…” Fred mumbled. Heathcliff chose not to comment and continued to drive his charge home. As they pulled up to the mansion, Fred was not surprised to see that his father was once again not home. It would have been nice to have him to talk to.

Fred dejectedly wandered through the mansion, not sure what to do with himself. He wracked his brain for something, anything that could help Tadashi but he couldn’t come up with anything. Fred’s mind continued to work as he wandered into his room. He could try hiring a lawyer….but if Tadashi didn’t have a job how would that help? Groaning, Fred collapsed onto his bed and fell into a restless sleep.   
\--

The next morning, Fred dragged himself down the stairs, dreading going to Tadashi’s house and seeing his boyfriend so miserable. On the other hand, he knew Tadashi needed him and how could Fred not be their when his boyfriend needed him most? He wasn’t sure how he would be able to stay strong, but he would find a way. Tadashi needed someone to lean on. Fred wouldn’t let him down.

“Fredrick! It’s been awhile hasn’t it!” A voice loudly declared when Fred wandered into the kitchen, startling him out of his thoughts. 

“Dad?” Fred asked, eyes widening in surprise. “Uh….hey….” He tried to be more energetic, but he knew the smile on his face looked forced. 

“Fred, what’s wrong? Normally you’re much more…energetic.” His dad commented, frowning. 

Shifting uncomfortably, Fred admitted, “Sorry dad I’m just kind of…it’s my boyf-“ Fred froze when he realized what he just let slip. His dad didn’t know he was gay. Or hadn’t known until now.

“Boyfriend?” his father asked. “Well that’s new.”

“You’re…taking this well…” Fred nervously said. 

“Hey, do you like him?”

“Yes of course!”

“Does he like you?”

“Yes…”

“Then I’m happy for you,” He said, grinning at Fred. “So what’s going on with him?” Fred didn’t answer for a moment, too relieved by his father’s quick acceptance of him being gay to do anything but grin. Fred almost didn’t believe it. His grin slid off of his face as he collapsed in a chair at the table and explained,

“Okay his name’s Tadashi and he has a brother Hiro who is only five. A week ago his parents…there…there was a crash and…they didn’t make it.” 

“That’s horrible…” his father sighed. 

“Yea…” Fred agreed. “And Tadashi was told he had to get a job to keep Hiro in a week but he couldn’t so now….they’re taking Hiro away today…”

“A job huh?” his father muttered, thinking hard. “Wait is Tadashi the one who goes to SFIT for robotics?” 

“Yea you….remember him?”

“Of course! You talk about him every time I visit.” He said with a laugh causing Fred to blush. “I honestly should have seen this coming. Is he good with around the house repairs and such?”

“Yea, he did all the repairs for his parents. He’s even good with cars!”

“Perfect!” He cried, suddenly standing up. “Yes I can make this work! Now let’s hurry before it’s too late! Heathcliff! Can you take us to the Hamada’s?” 

“Of course sir.” Heathcliff said. 

“Wait what are we doing?” Fred asked, running after his father. 

“I’m going to hire Mr. Hamada as our on residence repair man of course!” He declared. 

“You can do that?” Fred asked, stunned. 

“Why can’t I?” He countered. 

“Good point!”

“Now let’s go before it’s too late!”


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, Tadashi woke up feeling like a dark cloud was hovering over him. He really didn't want to wake up and face the fact that his brother was going to be taken away from him forever. He glanced down at Hiro who was tightly clutching Tadashi, dried tear stains on his face. A part of him just wanted to stay in bed and never move again, but he also knew Hiro needed to eat.

"Hey buddy. You gotta wake up…" Tadashi said, gently shaking Hiro who grumbled and snuggled closer to Tadashi. "Hiro please…"

"No….I wake up and then I leave. So no waking up." Hiro mumbled. Tadashi let out a miserable groan and said,

"I'm sorry but… it…we can't do that…" Tadashi picked up Hiro and carried him down the stairs, Hiro stubbornly trying to act like he was asleep, trying to pretend this wasn't happening. He desperately wanted to do the same, but he couldn't. Tadashi walked into the kitchen and set Hiro in a chair, feeling exhausted even though he only just woke up. Though he knew they needed to eat, the thought of food made Tadashi nauseous so he decided toast would work for their breakfast and got a couple of slices of bread toasting.

"I don't want to go…" Hiro whimpered after several minutes of silence.

"I don't want you to go either…" Tadashi agreed.

"Let's run away!" Hiro exclaimed.

"What?" Tadashi shouted.

"If we run away they can't make me leave!" Hiro said, eyes lighting up. "We can stay together then!" For a moment, Tadashi wanted to do just that. Pack up some key essentials and run. They would be together and they could be happy. Tadashi immediately rejected the thought though. If they did that they would eventually get caught and Tadashi would go to prison and he wouldn't have a chance of ever seeing Hiro.

"I'm sorry Hiro w-we can't…"

"Why not?" Hiro demanded.

"The police will look for us, especially since they will see it as me kidnapping you," Tadashi explained.

"Well that's stupid!" Hiro shouted. "I wanna be with my Dashi!"

"I want you to buddy but I-I failed an-" Tadashi began but Hiro snapped,

"I won't go! I'll run away!"

"Hiro…I…" Before Tadashi can formulate a response to Hiro's declaration, someone loudly knocked on the door. Tadashi had hoped Fred would get here first, but he knew how Fred usually knocked, and that was nothing like it. Reluctantly Tadashi opened the door to reveal Bubbles.

Bubbles slowly pulled of his sun glasses and said, "I'm sorry I have to do this…but since you don't have a job…"

"Please," Tadashi begged. "Just…I just need a little more time!"

"I can't give you that," Bubbles countered.

"I can't lose my brother too!"

"He needs a home that can care for him and provide him with what he needs!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"And I can do that if I just could get a little more time to find work!" Tadashi argued.

"I'm sorry but I can't do anything!" Bubbles snapped, walking inside the house. "Where is he?"

"In the kitchen…" Tadashi sighed, defeated. He tried to follow, but his feet remained frozen in the spot, unable to accept that his brother was being taken away…

"Hey! Get back here!" Bubbles roared, snapping Tadashi out of his thoughts. He ran into the kitchen and asked,

"What's wrong?"

"He climbed out the window!" Bubbles snapped, shoving past Tadashi and racing outside. Shocked, Tadashi ran after Bubbles and started looking around the house.

"Hiro! Hiro please come back!" Tadashi shouted. Frantically looking around trying to spot his brother. He caught a flash of something and spotted his brother running across the street before freezing when he saw a car. Horrified, Tadashi ran onto the street shouting, "Hiro!" grabbing Hiro and flinging himself onto the other side of the road as the car screeched to a halt.

"Let me go!" Hiro cried, trying to rip himself from Tadashi's grip.

"No!" Tadashi snapped. "Are you hurt?"

"No!" Hiro shouted, trying to yank himself away.

"Hiro you could have been killed! Why would you run out into the road?" Tadashi snapped.

"Tadashi! Hiro! Are you guys okay?" A familiar voice shouted. Keeping a firm grip on Hiro, Tadashi looked over at the car and saw Fred climbing out of it.

"Yea we're fine…" Tadashi sighed, standing up and picking Hiro up with him. Hiro continued to thrash but Tadashi refused to let him go. "Hiro stop it!"

"So you want me to go?" Hiro whimpered.

"No! Never! But you can't run away," Tadashi mumbled.

"Hiro are you alright?" Bubbles asked, walking over to the group and kneeling down next to him.

"I won't go with you!" Hiro snapped, continuing to struggle.

"Hold it, hold it!" Another man declared, climbing out of the car Fred had just exited. "Mr. uh?"

"Bubbles," Bubbles said. "Who are you exactly?"

"Stan Lee," Mr. Lee explained. Lee…wait was this Fred's father?

"My dad," Fred whispered. Tadashi was about to ask why he was their when Mr. Lee said,

"So you say this young man needs a job to keep guardianship of his brother?" Mr. Lee asked.

"Yes," Bubbles said. "Unless you can offer him a job no-"

"I was just about do exactly that!" Mr. Lee declared. "Tadashi would you like to be hired as my onsite repair man? You will be given a room in my mansion and would be responsible for repairing anything that is broken around the mansion, cars, pluming electric, whatever you can fix."

"Are you kidding me!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"Why would I kid about this? My home needs a lot of repairs. He'll have plenty of work for him." Mr. Lee declared.

"Enough to hire someone to live in your house and make enough to support a child?" Bubbles snapped.

"Definitely," Mr. Lee assured, reaching into his pocket and pulling something out and handing it to Bubbles. Bubbles inspected the object, his frown deepening.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Bubbles groaned after a minute.

"I don't see how you didn't recognize me!" Mr. Lee teased.

"Are you saying you're going to trust a stranger with this?" Bubbles hissed.

"Eventually," Mr. Lee calmly said. "I do have a lot of things that seem to need repairs pretty regularly and it is a pain to get a repair person to the mansion who won't try…things."

"Things?" Tadashi whispered to Fred who shrugged, looking just as baffled as Tadashi was.

Bubbled looked conflicted by the new information. He stared at the object for another minute before asking "You sure about this?"

"Yes." Mr. Lee assured.

"Alright," Bubbles sighed, returning the object. "Alright I'll need to check by in a couple of weeks to check on this job and make sure Tadashi can care for Hiro."

"Sounds fair to me." Mr. Lee agreed. "So what do you say Tadashi, do you accept my offer?"

"I uh…" Tadashi stammered brain not quiet processing what he was hearing. "Yes! Of course I mean…thank you Mr. Lee!"

"My pleasure! I have high expectations of you!" Mr. Lee exclaimed, holding out his hand for Tadashi to take, which he did.

"Do I have to go?" Hiro tentatively asked.

"Sort of…you and I will be living with Fred together!" Tadashi explained, hugging Hiro tightly.

"Really!" Hiro exclaimed, breaking out into a large grin.

"Yep!" Fred assured, excitedly ruffling his hair.

"You two better get packing," Mr. Lee said. "I'd like you moved in as soon as possible."

"I-I'm working on selling the house but I can pack up now." Tadashi offered.

"Sounds perfect!"  
\-----

The next several hours passed in a daze for Tadashi. Mr. Lee left to take care of business and left Fred to help with packing. He went over to Hiro’s room to help Hiro pack while Tadashi worked on his own. Tadashi knew this needed to be done, but it hurt having to pack up his things and leave his home forever. He felt like he was throwing away a piece of his parents. 

Now that he was packing to leave, Tadashi found himself desperately wishing he didn’t have to go. This was his home! Sure they hadn’t been here long but it held so many memories that Tadashi couldn’t stand to lose. Could he really just abandon the last connection he had to his parents? If he wanted to keep Hiro he did, and Hiro was worth it. With that thought firmly in mind Tadashi got back to work.

So much would have to be left behind, Tadashi knew he couldn’t bring any of the furniture and most of his parents things couldn’t be brought either. All he could see bringing was his and Hiro’s things and family photos. It wouldn’t be right to bring anything else since they were going to be living in someone else’s home. He’d have to deal with everything else later. 

Once both Hiro and Tadashi’s rooms where packed, he realized their where probably too many boxes for the car, until they walked outside and found Heathcliff had somehow acquired a van. 

“How much do I owe you for the van?” Tadashi asked as they packed up the van. 

“Mr. Lee has taken care of it.” Heathcliff assured, confusing Tadashi. 

“He’s already done so much I can’t-”

“He said, since he is having you relocate, he would pay for any fee’s involved in that process.” . But that made no sense to Tadashi, he would have been evicted anyways. Smiling, Heathcliff added, “He also mentioned something about helping out his future son in law.” That clarified things…sort of… 

“Son in….you told him about us?” Tadashi hissed at Fred, who froze halfway in the back of the truck.

“I-uh…it kind of slipped out….sorry…” Fred mumbled embarrassed. Smiling Tadashi admitted,

“It’s okay… I…I wish I could have told….told them…” Tadashi’s smile disappeared as he thought about them. Would they have accepted his relationship with Fred? Would they have thrown him out? Now he’d never know. “I’m glad your dad knows, I…yea…” Tadashi mumbled, going back to packing and trying desperately not to think about his parents, something much easier said than done. Thankfully Fred did not try and bring the subject up again and simply went back to packing boxes. Though they only brought Tadashi and Hiro’s things, all their boxes practically filled the van save for the driver’s seat and one other seat they managed to keep clear.

“Mr. Hamada. If I remember correctly, you drive a moped?” Heathcliff asked once the van was packed. 

“Yea…” Tadashi sheepishly admitted. 

“I do have a car seat set up for Hiro and Master Fredrick could ride with you.” Heathcliff said. Tadashi wasn’t sure how he felt about Hiro getting into the front seat of a car without Tadashi there, but he realized they didn’t have a lot of options unless they wanted to make multiple trips and Tadashi did not think he was in a position to ask for something like that of the butler, he’d done so much already…

“Uh…yea that’s fine…I-uh drive safe?” Tadashi blushed the moment the words left his mouth, realizing how rude it sounded. Heathcliff didn’t seem to offended however and said,

“Of course,” Seemingly understanding what Tadashi meant by that. Tadashi kneeled down to Hiro’s level and said, 

“Okay buddy, you’re going to ride with Heathcliff and Fred and I will meet you at Fred’s house okay? Now be good and don’t bother Heathcliff.” Tadashi sternly said, trying to keep himself calm. Hiro would be fine. Heathcliff was a careful driver, he was probably more careful then Wasabi at times. They’d be fine. He needed to stop worrying or he’d get into an accident. 

“I’ll be good Dashi!” Hiro assured, kissing Tadashi’s cheek. Smiling, Tadashi picked Hiro up and got him buckled in before heading over to his moped and pulling out two helmets and handing the better one to Fred. The pair got settled on Tadashi’s moped and they were off. 

“Relax, Heathcliff will keep him safe,” Fred assured as they closely followed the van through the streets. 

“I know…” Tadashi groaned, trying to focus on keeping himself and Fred safe. He couldn’t keep worrying about them while driving. They would be fine. Fred’s tight grip around him was helping him not think about Hiro and Heathcliff but was not helping him focus on the road. 

“Relax!” Fred added, hugging Tadashi tighter.

“Why do I get the feeling you purposefully did all of this so you could hold me for twenty minutes uninterrupted?” Tadashi playfully asked as they pulled to a stop at a red light behind the van, Hiro once again excitedly waving at them as best he could from the van. Smiling, Tadashi gave a small wave back as Fred said,

“What. Pssh, why would you think something like that? Totally ridiculous,” Fred said, burying his face in Tadashi’s shoulder. 

“No idea,” Tadashi deadpanned as they drove off again. Thankfully Fred didn’t try anything for the rest of the drive and they pulled in after the van, everyone safe and sound. Tadashi hurriedly turned off the moped and ran over to the van as Heathcliff got out and unbuckled Hiro. 

“Dashi! Dashi! Did you see me wave?” Hiro asked as Heathcliff carefully set Hiro on the ground. 

“Yea I did,” Tadashi said, grinning. “Did he behave?”

“He was wonderful,” Heathcliff assured, smiling fondly at Hiro. 

“Good…I guess I should get this van unpacked.”

“Hey I’ll help!” Fred assured. 

“I would be more than happy to assist as well,” Heathcliff added, opening the van and grabbing a box. 

“You don’t have to do that!” Tadashi hurriedly said.

“Hey we want to!” Fred declared, grabbing one as well. Sighing in defeat, Tadashi grabbed a box as well and headed inside, awkwardly following Fred and Heathcliff through the mansion, glancing down and noticing Hiro carrying a box as well. 

“Need some help buddy?”

“Nope I got it!” Hiro assured, slightly breathless. 

“Here we are Mr. Hamada,” Heathcliff said reaching a door not far from Fred’s room. “I apologize but you and your brother will be sharing a room.”

“Oh that’s fine, just letting us stay here is more than enough.” Tadashi assured. Smiling, Heathcliff opened the door to the room and walked in. When Tadashi walked inside he let out a small gasp. The room was only slightly smaller than Fred’s room and also had a T.V. a large closet two beds and a door that Tadashi thought led to a bathroom. 

“Like it?” Fred teasingly asked as he set a box down.

“I…this is too much!” Tadashi exclaimed. “I mean, this room is really nice and-” 

“It’s only bigger than the other workers rooms because you have a roommate!” Fred assured. “And you know, there are T.V’s everywhere in this house and-”

“I…are you sure this is okay? I don’t want to impose…”

“Master Stan specifically had this room prepared for you and your brother.” Heathcliff assured. Tadashi realized that this must have been what he had gone to take care of earlier. It didn’t make Tadashi feel too much better though.

“I feel like I’m more of a burden then a worker…” Tadashi admitted. 

“We like to treat our people well,” Fred said, starting towards the door. “Now let’s get the van unpacked!” It only took them three trips to get all the boxes in the room and once done, Tadashi wondered if there was a way to get a little alone time with Fred. Tadashi collapsed on the closest bed followed closely by Fred who whispered,

“Hey, you want some alone time?” 

“If you’ll stay yes,” Tadashi returned. Smiling Fred turned to Heathcliff and said,

“Hey Heathcliff, would you mind taking Hiro down to get some food? I can hear his stomach from here!” A knowing smile on his face Heathcliff said,

“Of course, come along.” Reaching down for Hiro’s hand, who excitedly took it and followed along, firing question after question at the butler. Tadashi smiled at the pair as they left, hardly able to believe that he would be keeping Hiro. For now at least, but at least now he had hope, thanks to Fred. 

“Fred I…I don’t know how I can even begin to thank you.” Tadashi whispered, tightly holding Fred’s hand. 

“I didn’t do anything, I just told my dad what was going on,” Fred said, shrugging. 

“If you hadn’t Hiro would be gone,” Tadashi argued. Fred shrugged again and mumbled,

“You would have found a way…” Unable to help himself, Tadashi pulled Fred into a deep kiss, deciding it was better to simply kiss him senseless. Fred broke the kiss saying,

“No seriously I did-” Tadashi pressed his lips against Fred’s cutting him off. Tadashi’s hands slipped around Fred’s waist and pulled him onto Tadashi’s lap as Fred wrapped his arms around Tadashi’s neck. This was much better then arguing.


	9. Chapter 9

Tadashi looked around the room in confusion. Why was he in the hospital? And then it hit him, the car crash. His parents, HIRO. Tadashi started running through the hospital, desperately trying to find someone, anyone who could tell him what was happening, if his baby brother was okay.

The hospital was terrifyingly empty however and Tadashi couldn’t find anyone. Where was everyone? Why did they leave? He needed to find his brother, now. Suddenly a hand landed on his shoulder saying harshly. 

“Mr. Hamada?” 

“Yes that’s me,” Tadashi said. “Do you know where Hiro is?”

“He’s dead.” The doctor coldly said, removing his hand.

“W-w-w-wha-” Tadashi weakly stammered, his voice suddenly failing him. He couldn’t move, speak or even breathe. Dead? No he couldn’t be…

“He’d dead because of you.” The doctor said, “You killed your brother.”

“No…” Tadashi whispered, stumbling back. No no no no no no! Hiro couldn’t be gone! 

The doctor vanished and was replaced with his parents. 

“You killed my son!” Her mother roared, looking sickened by the sight of Tadashi.

“No I didn’t!” Tadashi shouted. 

“If it wasn’t for your damned convention he’d be alive!” His father growled. “You’re a murderer!” 

Tadashi tried to open his mouth to protest but the words wouldn’t form. They vanished just like the doctor and he was facing Wasabi. 

“What kind of monster kills his brother?” Wasabi growled. Tadashi couldn’t speak, so he shook his head, tears streaming down his face. 

Gogo was standing before him saying, “You don’t deserve to live.” 

“I-I…” Tadashi tried to form the words, but his whole body felt heavy. Tadashi collapsed to the floor as Honey Lemon appeared before him, screaming curse words at him. Tadashi covered his ears, but the words filtered through his ears as if there was nothing covering them.

“You sicken me,” Fred said. Tadashi slowly looked up and whispered,

“Fred…please…”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Fred snapped, his eyes cold. “I can’t believe I wasted so much time with you. I gave you everything and yet you go on and kill your little brother.” 

“No…” Tadashi whispered, but Fred was gone and Hiro was in front of him, bloodied and pale. 

“Why Dashi…” Hiro whispered, blood pouring out of the deep gashes that covered his body. 

“Hiro I-I didn’t mean-” Tadashi stammered. 

“But you did…” Hiro whispered before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he crumbled to the ground. 

“NO!” Tadashi shouted, eyes flying open as he sat up in his bed, heart pounding. He was shaking and covered in sweat, tears streaming down his face. That dream felt so real….but what if it wasn’t? He frantically looked around the room, desperately trying to find Hiro, to assure himself that his baby brother was alive and well. He felt something nuzzle against him and glanced down at Hiro’s sleeping form, his chest gently rising and falling. Tadashi let a small sob escape him as he scooped Hiro up into his arms, cradling him against his chest. Tadashi kissed his forehead and buried his face in his brother’s hair, trying to calm his frantic heartbeat. Hiro was okay, Hiro was alive. 

“Dashi?” Hiro sleepily asked eyes half open. Tadashi mentally cursed himself for disturbing his brother and started soothingly running a hand through his hair whispering,

“Go back to sleep buddy. I uh just wanted a cuddle.” Hiro hummed contently and snuggled up against Tadashi, breaths evening out. Tadashi leaned against the backboard and drew his knees up, clutching Hiro in his arms for fear he’d vanish if he let go. Tadashi knew it was an irrational fear, but he’d come so close to losing him so many times already… Tadashi started to gently rock Hiro, heart rate slowing. 

He knew he needed to get up and talk to Mr. Lee, but he couldn’t bring himself to move, protectively curling himself around Hiro’s sleeping form. The dream left him shaken and reluctant to leave Hiro’s side. A part of him wanted to just bring Hiro with him to see Mr. Lee, but another knew Hiro needed sleep and that he’d get restless sitting with Tadashi or coming with him to do whatever he was asked to do. 

Reluctantly, Tadashi stood and tucked Hiro back into bed before walking into the bathroom to change. Tadashi wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do and how he was expected to do it so he hoped to talk to Mr. Lee before he left. Or was he supposed to leave last night? Tadashi groaned and finished getting ready. If Mr. Lee was already gone Tadashi wasn’t sure what he’d do. Once dressed, Tadashi slipped out of the room and walked down the stairs. 

Tadashi grinned when he spotted Mary already out and about cleaning the mansion. She was one of the maids that worked in the mansion who also lived in the mansion. She had always been very kind to Tadashi; maybe she’d be able to point him in the right direction. 

“Morning Mary!” Tadashi cheerfully greeted. “Have you seen Mr. Lee or Heathcliff?”

“No I have not seen them,” Mary snapped, not looking at Tadashi as she worked. “Now stop bothering me!” Tadashi winced at her harsh tone, she was usually so nice…

“Sorry…” Tadashi sheepishly mumbled. 

“You should be!” She said with a huff. Confused, Tadashi nervously backed away from her, colliding with someone. 

“Sorry!” Tadashi exclaimed, turning around and tripping over his own feet and tumbling to the ground. Before he hit the floor, the person he ran into grabbed his arms and helped him back on his feet. “Heathcliff I am so sorry!” Tadashi exclaimed when he realized who grabbed him. 

“It’s quiet alright,” Heathcliff assured. “Master Stan wishes to speak with you.”

“Oh I was actually just looking for him,” Tadashi admitted, rubbing his neck, feeling slightly embarrassed. 

“I will show you to his office then,” Heathcliff said, smiling. 

“Thanks,” Tadashi said, thankful Heathcliff was not snapping at him. Maybe Mary was having a rough morning or something. She didn’t always have to be nice. Heathcliff nodded and led him through the mansion. Though Tadashi had seen a good amount of the mansion, he didn’t know where everything was yet. Heathcliff suddenly stopped in front of and opened it, gesturing for Tadashi to enter. 

“Good morning Tadashi!” Mr. Lee greeted, setting down a paper he was looking over. “I trust you slept well?”

“Yes, definitely, the room you gave us is amazing. I-I feel bad actually...” 

“Oh it’s nothing really.” Mr. Lee assured, waving his hand dismissively. “Now please sit down we have a lot to discuss.” 

“Okay…” Tadashi said, sitting down in a chair across from Mr. Lee.

“First things first, I need to officially hire you! So if you could just look through this contract and sign when you’re ready we can get started on all the other business.” Mr. Lee said, passing Tadashi a large packet. Though Tadashi was not very familiar with everything in the contract Mr. Lee patiently explained everything to him. 

“Just one last question before I sign. Why did you hire me as a part time if you’re having me live on site?” Tadashi asked.

“You’re in college, you don’t have time to be a full time and I do have room. I would have let you just live here but Bubbles said you needed a job.”

“I’m honestly thinking of dropping out,” Tadashi admitted. 

“Why’s that?” Mr. Lee asked, looking surprised.

“If I want to be a good guardian for Hiro I don’t think I can be in school and working,” Tadashi explained. 

“Well I am more than willing to work with you to make sure you do not have to drop out.” 

“Thank you but you’ve alre-”

“No, I don’t want to hear it. College is very important and I want to make sure you finish it.” Mr. Lee declared. 

“I appreciate you caring so much but in the end isn’t this my decision?” 

“In the end yes but I don’t want you dropping out simply because you feel you can’t ask me for help. You are just supposed to work when you have time. I will be the first to admit this is a very unusual job but…you need this job so I will make this work for you.”

Tadashi frowned at Mr. Lee’s declaration and asked, “I appreciate all the help but…can I ask why you’re working so hard to help me?”

Mr. Lee sighed and didn’t answer for a minute. He looked worried, but eventually admitted, “Tadashi…I love my son very much…but I know I haven’t been the…best father. I haven’t been here like I should I didn’t even have a clue that he might be dating anyone! That said, my reasons for hiring you like this where very selfish. I knew Fred cared about you and I wanted to make him happy. Helping you made him happy. So I will do what I can to help you.”

Mr. Lee’s declaration caused a surge of emotions to rise. A part of Tadashi was angry at him. He was only helping him to get closer to Fred? Another part of him was relieved to know the truth. And yet another part struggled to stay mad at the man who inadvertently was the reason Hiro was still in his care. Despite his reasons for hiring Tadashi, this was still a job that would pay him and ensure Hiro stayed with him. Tadashi knew the circumstances of being hired made him working here questionable, but if he wanted to keep Hiro what other choice did he have but to take it? If Tadashi was honest with himself, all he cared about really was that this kept Hiro with him. He could handle whatever people said about him as long as it meant keeping Hiro. 

Eventually Tadashi said, “This…is a lot to take in…”

“I know this doesn’t help but…from meeting you, I think I would have hired you if you and Fred had not been dating.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, I’ve been looking up on you and you have glowing reviews from all your professors including Robert Callaghan who is a friend of mine. And from what I’ve seen you are a wonderful young man.” He was right, it didn’t make Tadashi any less uneasy about working there, but it made him hope that maybe he was capable of being a better father, something he never really saw in his own parents. 

He still felt like he needed to drop out of SFIT, but so many people where telling to not to. They didn’t have Hiro’s best interests at heart though…well Fred probably cared about them both. Could he really so no to the man who gave him a job? Besides, he hadn’t even tried seeing if he could balance everything, maybe he needed to give it a chance.

“Alright…I guess…for now I’ll keep going to school and see how it works.” Tadashi finally said. 

“I’m glad to hear that!” Mr. Lee exclaimed as Tadashi signed his name on the contract. “Excellent! Now as for how this will all work. As with my other employees I do an honor system when it comes to pay and hours worked.”

“Honor system?” Tadashi asked. 

“You will keep a log of how many hours you work every day and turn it in to myself or Heathcliff if I am out of town which does happen regularly.”

“If you’re gone a lot how can you be sure people are working when they say they are?” Tadashi asked. 

“Oh Heathcliff will inform me if he see’s anyone is being dishonest. And with you if we see not very many things are being fixed it will be pretty obvious something is going on.” Mr. Lee said. 

“Okay, how will I know what needs my attention?” Tadashi asked. 

“In the past Heathcliff would call a repairman as he found things that needed repair or work done. Initially I planned on setting up an email system to email you with requests for repairs but several of my staff do not have access to a computer so unfortunately we’ll need to use paper to have repair requests placed. For now I would like you to take a look at my car.” 

“Of course,” Tadashi said, reluctantly standing up. “Anything else?”

“No, honestly I’m kind of making this up as I go.” Mr. Lee admitted with a laugh. 

“Honestly if it lets me keep Hiro I won’t complain,” Tadashi said. 

Sticking out his hand, Mr. Lee said, “Well then I hope we can make this work!”

“Me too…” Tadashi admitted, taking Mr. Lee’s hand.


	10. Chapter 10

Tadashi was surprised to see Heathcliff waiting for him outside Mr. Lee’s office. 

“Do you know where the garage is?” Heathcliff asked. 

“Honestly….no,” Tadashi sheepishly admitted. “But I wanted to grab Hiro real quick…” 

“Master Fredrick will get him. Follow me,” Heathcliff said and started walking.

“Oh um…thanks,” Tadashi mumbled as he caught up to Heathcliff. “Sorry if I’m keeping you from getting work done…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Heathcliff assured, opening the door to what Tadashi assumed was the garage. Though their where four very expensive cars in the garage, Tadashi didn’t need to be told which car needed work, the car at the end appeared to be totaled. 

“What happened?” Tadashi asked. 

“An accident.”

“Probably pointless to ask what kind of accident and how Mr. Lee is not even remotely hurt…”

“Yes,” Heathcliff replied, an almost teasing smile on his face. “Now, all the tools you’d need should be here, if there is something else you need or you find you cannot do the repair, let me know.”

“This…is probably the most complex repair I’ve done on a car but…I’ve worked with cars enough…I should be able to figure this out…” 

“Good luck.” Heathcliff said before leaving.

“People keep saying that…” Tadashi sighed before getting to work.

\---

Hiro sleepily opened his eyes, immediately noticing Tadashi was no longer holding him. Where did Tadashi go? Why did he leave? Was he going away like mama and papa? Hiro sat up and looked around the room saying,

“Dashi? Dashi are you in here?” When no one answered Hiro climbed out of bed and walked over to the bathroom asking, “Dashi?” Hiro nervously clutched Baymax as he slowly crept towards the bedroom door. Where did Tadashi go? Why didn’t he say anything before leaving? He hated being left alone and wanted to go and find Tadashi, but he was afraid of leaving the room and getting lost in the giant mansion. Hiro froze when he someone knock on the door, unsure what to do. Would Tadashi knock? At home he did but this was their room now. What if it was someone who wanted Tadashi? He didn’t know where Tadashi was…

“Hiro? You in here buddy?” Fred asked. Hiro nervously shuffled over to the door and partially pulled it open, hiding behind Baymax. Fred was nice. He took good care of Hiro and treated him nicely. But he probably wanted to talk to Tadashi, not Hiro. 

“Hi…” Hiro mumbled nervously. “Don’t know where Dashi is…” 

Fred grinned down at Hiro and kneeled down so he was eye level with him and said, “I was looking for you buddy.”

“You were?” Hiro asked, confused. 

“Yep,” Fred assured, nodding his head. 

“Why?” Hiro nervously mumbled. 

“Well Heathcliff told me Tadashi was up early to talk to my dad and he wanted me to check on you to make sure you where okay and knew where your brother was.”

“I woke up alone…” Hiro nervously mumbled. 

“I’m sorry,” Fred said. “He probably wanted to let you sleep and got distracted with the meeting and being asked to work right away.”

“He’s working?” Hiro asked. 

“Uh-huh,” Fred said, eagerly nodding his head. 

“Oh…” Hiro mumbled as his stomach let out a loud growl. Fred grinned and said,

“Hey how about I get you some breakfast and then take you over to see your brother?” Hiro nodded his head and started to reach for Fred’s hand before freezing. What if he got mad at Hiro for acting like a baby? Fred though held out his hand for Hiro to take with a warm smile on his face. Hiro smiled nervously and took his hand and Fred led him through the mansion, excitedly talking about the different areas as they passed by them. 

Hiro felt himself relaxing as he walked through the mansion with Fred. He was nice and smiled at Hiro with a genuine smile unlike his parents who looked more annoyed then happy when they smiled down at him. Soon they wandered into the kitchen and Fred picked Hiro up and set him on the counter asking, 

“So what are you hungry for little man?” 

Hiro sheepishly looked away and mumbled, “….pancakes?” 

“You got it!” Fred exclaimed, going over to the giant fridge to get some ingredients.

“Thank you…” Hiro mumbled. 

“No problemo!” Fred exclaimed. “With me and your brother dating I thought we ought to hang out some you know, get to know each other! That okay with you?”

Hiro cocked his head to the side and asked, “Do you love Dashi?” 

Fred froze momentarily, looking like a deer in the headlights. Fred shook his head slightly before saying, “I-…I um…I think I do.”

“Think?” Hiro asked, confused. “Why are you dating if you don’t love him?”

Fred grinned and said, “The point of dating is to find that out. I-I really like Tadashi and care about him, a lot. Like….even if things don’t work out…I-I…I want him to be in my life.” 

Hiro grinned and said, “I hope no matter what you and Dashi stay friends!” 

Fred grinned and asked, “Why’s that?”

“You’re nice…” Hiro mumbled. “And Dashi likes you!” 

Fred grinned and said, “Thanks little man. You’re a cool guy!” 

“You think so?” Hiro sheepishly asked. 

“I know it!” Fred declared. Hiro shyly looked up at Fred as he mixed ingredients together with a cheerful smile. “I won’t tell Tadashi about these chocolate chips if you won’t.” Fred whispered, looking around the room in a comedic way. Hiro giggled and said,

“Deal!” Fred grinned as he started cooking pancakes and Hiro curiously asked. “Last night Heathcliff mentioned something about a cooking lady…”

“Oh yea, we do have a cook but I thought it would be fun to make you something myself,” Fred said, carefully flipping a pancake. “You know, give her a break.”

“That’s nice,” Hiro said as Fred removed the pancakes from the stove and set them on a plate. 

“I mean…I guess…” Fred said, shrugging. “It doesn’t seem like that big a deal…”

“Dashi always says it’s the thought that counts,” Hiro said. 

A warm smile spread across Fred’s face as he agreed, “Yea…and Tadashi’s pretty smart about these things…”

“He’s the smartest!” Hiro declared. Fred stood in the middle of the kitchen, a goofy smile on his face. After a minute Fred shook his head and asked,

“All right so how about after we finish breakfast we go and see Tadashi?” Setting a plate down in front of Hiro. 

“Okay!” Hiro exclaimed, eyes lighting up in excitement. Today was going to be an awesome day!

\-----

As Tadashi predicted, fixing the car was far more difficult than anything he’d tackled before. The car was really messed up; it looked as if something very large crushed it and then smashed the front and sides. Tadashi couldn’t even fathom how this car got like this. After working for several hours, the door to the garage opened and Fred and Hiro walked in. When he heard the door close, Tadashi pulled himself out from under the car and stood.

“Dashi!” Hiro shouted, running over to Tadashi. “Why’d you leave?” Hiro asked, pouting. 

Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck nervously and mumbled, “Sorry buddy, Mr. Lee wanted to meet with me then he asked me to start working on the car which is taking a while.” 

“I still don’t know how he crashed it…” Fred mumbled, inspecting the car. “But it looks really good!” 

“I’ve barely made a dent in the repairs….and that was not intentional!” Tadashi added when Fred started snickering. 

“Can we play Dashi?” Hiro asked, giving his brother his puppy dog pout. Tadashi really wanted to, but he needed to get hours in so Bubbles wouldn’t have anything to complain about. 

“I’m really sorry buddy, but I have to work right now, but I promise I’ll play with you tonight okay?” Hiro slumped over and mumbled,

“Okay….”

“Hey, do you mind if I play with you?” Fred asked, kneeling down in front of Hiro. Hiro grinned up at Fred and said,

“Okay.” Fred’s grin widened as he took Hiro’s hand and started to led him out of the garage before freezing and exclaiming,

“Wait! I need to give your brother something!” Fred exclaimed, running over to Tadashi and kissing his cheek before returning to Hiro saying,

“See you later! If you’re not back inside for dinner I will drag you inside!”

“Noted,” Tadashi said with a laugh. 

“Bye Dashi!” Hiro exclaimed, excitedly waving as they walked back into the mansion. Tadashi grinned at the door they had walked through, feeling immensely grateful for having both his amazing brother and boyfriend. Shaking his head, Tadashi turned his attention back to his work.

\--

“So what do you want to do little man?” Fred asked, glancing down as Hiro as they walked through the mansion. 

“Um….Dashi and I like to build robots or play games…” Hiro sheepishly said. 

“Well I’m not good with robots but I can play whatever game you’d like!”

“Hide and go seek?” Hiro sheepishly asked. 

Fred grinned and said, “Sure! How about you hide and I seek?”

“Okay!” Hiro exclaimed, excitedly running off. Laughing, Fred covered his eyes and started counting. 

“One…two…three…”

Hiro ran through the mansion frantically looking for the perfect hiding spot. Hiro quietly went up the stairs and started roaming through the halls for a good hiding spot and eventually spotted a long curtain hanging over a bay window and hurried over to it. Hiro clamored up onto the seal the partially pulled the curtain closed to Fred wouldn’t be able to see him. Fred would never find him here!

Downstairs, Fred continued to count, “forty-eight….forty-nine….fifty! Ready or not there I come!” Fred exclaimed and began his search. He didn’t hear Hiro going up the stairs so he started combing the room he was in. After spending several minutes searching, Fred moved into the hallway and started looking in a closet when a voice asked,

“Master Fredrick are you looking for something?” making Fred jump and hit the door. 

“I’m looking for Hiro.” Fred explained, turning to Heathcliff.

“Why would he be in the closet?” Heathcliff asked. 

“We’re playing hide and go seek!” Fred exclaimed, grinning. 

“And he is only confined to inside the mansion?” Heathcliff asked, making Fred’s face fall.

“No…”

“So he can go anywhere?” Heathcliff asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yes…” Fred groaned. 

“Good luck then,” Heathcliff said before walking away. Fred definitely didn’t think this through. Groaning, Fred continued his search. 

\---

Hiro cautiously poked his head out from behind the curtain to see if anyone was nearby. Hiro quickly ducked behind the curtain in case someone came by, suppressing a yawn. Hiro wasn’t sure how long he’d been hiding but it felt like a really long time. Tadashi never took this long, but then again they were playing in a much bigger area. Maybe Hiro should have hidden downstairs…Hiro let out a yawn and tried to ignore his growling stomach. Hopefully Fred would find him or give up soon. 

\--

Fred was starting to panic. He’d been searching for at least two hours and still hadn’t been able to find Hiro. Tadashi was going to kill him. How had he lost Hiro on the first day? He was going to have to tell Tadashi he lost Hiro and had no idea where he might be. Yep, he was dead meat. Maybe he could wait…but that would only make Tadashi angrier. Groaning, Fred slowly made his way into the garage, trying to find the best way to explain to Tadashi that his baby brother was missing.

Fred didn’t pass anyone as he made his way there, and he considered looking for someone so they’d know who to talk to first if he suddenly went missing. No he was just being paranoid, Tadashi wouldn’t kill him….right? Fred reluctantly pushed the garage door opened and stepped inside, freezing when he saw Tadashi without a shirt on. 

San Fransokyo got hot during the summer, and since the garage didn’t have air conditioning it got very hot very quickly. And with Tadashi doing a lot of heavy lifting Fred wasn’t exactly surprised to see his boyfriend topless, but he couldn’t help but stare. He’d always known Tadashi was very good looking, but he’d never known Tadashi had so much muscle. How could they have been dating for three years and Fred still not have seen his boyfriend half naked in all that time was beyond Fred. Tadashi did like to keep himself pretty covered, he was so shy. He couldn’t comprehend why Tadashi was so embarrassed about his body, he was gorgeous! 

Wait….wasn’t he down here for something? Fred couldn’t recall, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to. It wouldn’t hurt anyone if he stayed down here for a little while and watched his boyfriend work. Fred found himself transfixed by Tadashi, he’d dated before, but none of his partners made his brain freeze like Tadashi did right now. Fred’s eyes wandered all over Tadashi’s body, drinking it in, wanting desperately to reach out and feel Tadashi’s chest and feel his muscles…

“As flattered as I am by your gaping Fred, I have to ask why you’re here without Hiro.” Tadashi said, startling Fred out of his thoughts. Hiro? Why was Hiro…oh right. Hide and go seek gone wrong. Fred’s brain was still moving sluggishly, and Tadashi standing bare chested in front of him was not helping things. 

“I-uh…” Fred stammered as Tadashi smirked. “Um…you’re going to laugh at this but uh….I’m not sure where he is…” Tadashi’s smile morphed into a look of anger and snapped,

“You lost him?” Even angry Tadashi was hot. Fred pushed that thought out of his mind; this was not the time for that.

“We were playing hide and go seek…” Fred sheepishly explained, forcing his eyes to stay on Tadashi’s face. “He’s apparently a really good hider…” 

“Did you give him any boundaries?” Tadashi groaned, massaging his temples.

“….no…” Fred sheepishly said.

“Back home he had a favorite hiding spot behind the curtains upstairs. He prefers hiding upstairs for some reason so I’d try there.” Tadashi groaned, massaging his forehead. 

“Thank you!” Fred squeaked before racing out of the garage. Fred hadn’t heard him go up the stairs, but Hiro was Tadashi’s brother so he probably knew best. Fred went up the stairs and started down the hall, scanning it for any good hiding spots when he noticed that all the windows curtains where open except for one. Grinning, Fred ran over to it and pulled it back to reveal a sleeping Hiro. Fred let out a relieved laugh and gently started to shake Hiro. 

Hiro sleepily opened his eyes and stretched, letting out a yawn saying, “You found me…”

“Sorry it took so long…” Fred sheepishly said. “You are a very good hider.”

Hiro grinned and asked, “Can I have some lunch? I’m really hungry.” Fred glanced over at the clock noting it was past noon and picked Hiro up saying,

“Sure…hey why don’t we make something for Tadashi too and all eat lunch with him? He probably hasn’t taken a break since he started this morning.”

“Okay!” Hiro cheerfully said, wrapping his arms around Fred’s neck as they walked. 

“And um….we probably shouldn’t play hide and go seek in the mansion again…” Fred sheepishly added. 

Hiro giggled and said, “Is that ‘cuz you couldn’t find me?”

“Partially…” Fred admitted. Thankfully Hiro didn’t fight him and said,

“Okay!”

\---

Not long after Fred had run out of the garage he returned with Hiro, thankfully, in tow and three sandwiches. 

“We made you lunch!” Fred sheepishly said, looking extremely apologetic. 

“It’s an apology lunch!” Hiro added, grinning up at Fred who started blushing like mad. Tadashi smirked slightly at the sight. As much as he wanted to be annoyed at Fred still it was hard to be when he was blushing and looking so adorable. They had just been playing hide and go seek, it wasn’t like he’d been doing anything bad with Hiro. He probably over reacted a little bit. 

“Thanks guys, I really appreciate that,” Tadashi finally said, taking one of the plates from Fred and kissing his cheek, causing Fred’s blush to deepen. The three of them settled down and started eating, Hiro excitedly telling Tadashi all about his ‘super epic hiding spot’ while Fred continued to gape at Tadashi. After a few minutes of gaping, Tadashi realized him being shirtless was probably what was causing his boyfriend to act so weird and momentarily considered putting his shirt back on.

As Hiro started talking about a robot he wanted to build with Tadashi, he glanced over at Fred who was once again gaping, sandwich halfway up towards his mouth. When Fred noticed Tadashi smirking at him, he blushed again and quickly stuffed the sandwich in his mouth, choking slightly when he took too large a bite, making him decide not to cover himself. Fred was far to amusing like this.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right the ending of this chapter was a lot of fun to write, I hope you guys enjoy it!!

The day of his parents’ funeral came far sooner than Tadashi would have liked, but thankfully Mr. Lee was very understanding and did not even question Tadashi’s request for the day off. The sun was brightly shining as if it where mocking Tadashi’s pain. True to his word Fred planned everything out and even attended the funeral with him, but Tadashi couldn’t recall most of it. He spent most of the funeral feeling numb, barely registering what was happening. He was pretty sure his friends where there and maybe even Bubbles, but what he said to him he couldn’t recall. The only thing he could really remember was meeting his Aunt Cass at the reception. Before the funeral, he hadn’t even known he had an aunt, but somehow Fred had found out about her, tracked her down and invited her to the funeral. 

“Tadashi?” A woman asked, cautiously approaching Tadashi who was holding Hiro. The poor little guy had spent most of the funeral silently crying and had been clinging onto Tadashi for the entire reception, not that Tadashi was complaining.

“Yes…where you a friend of my parents?” Tadashi asked, wishing he could go back to Fred’s house and hide from anyone.

“No…well…I’m your Aunt. Aunt Cass…” She nervously introduced. 

“A-aunt?” Tadashi stammered. 

“Yea….I’m your mom’s sister…” She explained. “W-we….we got into a bad fight just after you were born and…w-we hadn’t spoken since and….and I-I just…I wish we could have…” She mumbled, whipping tears out of her eyes. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay…” Tadashi assured. 

“Well….I just wanted to say hi and that…well if you need anything….I really want to help you….I-If you’d like that….” Tadashi had heard that statement a thousand times today. But somehow hearing it come from someone he was related to made him believe that she meant it.

“Yea I…thank you,” Tadashi said and for the first time that day he actually meant it. “Oh um….did…did they tell you they had another son?” Tadashi asked, gesturing to Hiro. “This is Hiro…say hi Hiro…”

Hiro reluctantly lifted his head and gave a halfhearted wave before burying his face in Tadashi’s shoulder again. Thankfully, their aunt didn’t seem offended by this and said,

“N-no I hadn’t….it’s nice to meet you both officially…and here…” Aunt Cass said, digging into her purse and handing Tadashi a card. “That has my home phone number and the address for my home and café….well they’re one in the same really…”

“You own a café?” Tadashi asked, carefully pocketing the card. 

“Yes, the Lucky Cat Café….” She said with a sad smile. “I-I hope you two will stop by sometime.”

“We will,” Tadashi promised, meaning it.

Despite being please to have met his aunt, when Tadashi got back to Fred’s house he simply dragged himself up to his and Hiro’s room and stayed curled up in his bed for the rest of the day, cradling Hiro in his arms.

The next couple of weeks passed by in a blur for Tadashi with Tadashi diligently working on projects on the house while Fred or Heathcliff watched Hiro for him during the day and at night Tadashi would spend some time with Hiro. Tadashi had been surprised to find that Heathcliff was not only willing to watch Hiro, but seemed to really want to watch him. Every morning when Heathcliff told Tadashi what needed to be done for the day he’d ask if Tadashi needed him to watch Hiro.

Much to Tadashi’s dismay, he still hadn’t finished repairing the car, but Heathcliff regularly assured him that work around the house was priority for Mr. Lee and that Tadashi could work on it on days that there was nothing left for him to work on, something that only happened twice so far. Mr. Lee had not been kidding when he said the house regularly needed work. One of the bathrooms pipes burst or one of the rooms could use a repainting or even stranger was when the house got egged and Tadashi was requested to clean it up. 

Tadashi asked Heathcliff if they were going to call the police or something but Heathcliff smiled and said,

“We know who it is and it will be taken care of.” A few days later however the house had been covered in toilet paper and all Heathcliff would say was that it was the same person. Tadashi wasn’t sure he wanted to know how Heathcliff knew this. 

Tadashi had so much work to do; he almost forgot that Bubbles was coming back. Exactly two weeks after nearly having Hiro taken away, Bubbles returned. Tadashi was once again in the garage working on the car when Heathcliff came in saying,

“Mr. Hamada Mr. Bubbles is here and would like to speak to you.” Making Tadashi freeze, he was covered in sweat and oil and was wearing and old pair of jeans and shirt covered in holes. He probably didn’t have time to try and clean up at all and sighed. He was hoping he’d look half decent when Bubbles came. Oh well, nothing he could do about it now. 

Tadashi stood and made his way to the living room where Heathcliff took Bubbles. He only hoped Fred hadn’t started playing hide and go seek with Hiro today. Bubbles stood when Tadashi walked into the room and said,

“I’ve spoken with Mr. Lee already about your…work accommodations and for now at least it all seems to be in order.”

“That’s great!” Tadashi exclaimed. 

“But I still need to look around and see if this is a safe environment for Hiro.”

“You want to look through the entire mansion?” Tadashi asked, horrified. 

“Yes, is that a problem?” Bubbles asked with a raised eyebrow. Ignoring the fact that Tadashi hadn’t exactly been checking to make sure everything was child proof, this mansion was huge and it would take a while to walk the entire mansion. 

“No….but it will probably take a while…” Tadashi informed him. 

“I’ve got time,” Bubbles said in an impatient tone. 

“Alright…umm right this way then…” Tadashi awkwardly said.

\--

Not long after Bubbles arrived, Heathcliff found Fred and Hiro and asked Fred to keep Hiro occupied and ‘out of the way’ so they wouldn’t be disturbed. Fred had initially assumed this would be easy with how big the mansion was, so he took Hiro upstairs into the gaming room to play. 

“What do you want to do little man?” Fred asked. 

Hiro curiously looked around the room, eyes lighting up when he spotted a box of Lego’s. “Can we play with those?” Hiro asked, running over to the large bin. 

“Sure,” Fred said, carefully tipping to bin over, scattering the Lego’s across the floor. 

“This is awesome!” Hiro exclaimed, immediately grabbing some Lego’s to build something. 

“What are you working on?” Fred curiously asked, watching as Hiro started to construct a tall building. 

“Hamada Bro’s Inc!” Hiro proudly declared. 

“What’s that?” Fred curiously asked. 

“It’s the robotics company me and Dashi will make when I’m old enough!” Hiro exclaimed. 

“That’s awesome!” Fred said. “But won’t you and Dashi need a place to live?”

“Oh yea…” Hiro agreed. “Can you build an awesome house!” 

“Just a house?” Fred asked. “No, no if this is going to be a multi-million dollar company you guys need a mansion!” 

“You think we can get a mansion?” Hiro excitedly asked. 

“I know it!” Fred assured, getting to work building their ‘mansion’. 

“How do you know?” Hiro asked. 

“I’ve seen Tadashi’s inventions and if you’re even half the inventor he is you’ll make some amazing things as well,” Fred assured. Hiro flashed Fred as wide grin before getting back to work on the building. Not long after they start working though, Tadashi and Mr. Bubbles come into the room they’re in. 

“Hey guys I was wondering where you were,” Tadashi said when he noticed them playing on the floor. 

“Sorry we can leave if you want,” Fred said. 

“No need. I wanted to ask Hiro a few questions,” Mr. Bubbles said, kneeling down beside Hiro. 

“Okay!” Hiro exclaimed. 

“Have you ever been left home alone?” Bubbles asked. 

“Nope. Theirs’s always someone in the house!” Hiro exclaimed. “Dashi doesn’t leave very much but when he does Mr. Heathcliff watches me! He even watches me when Dashi is working around the house so I don’t get lonely, well him or Fred.”

“I see,” Bubbles said. 

 

“Are you happy here?”

“I love it here!” Hiro exclaimed. “Can I stay with Dashi?” 

Bubbles flashed Hiro a half smile before standing and saying, “If you wish to pursue becoming Hiro’s legal guardian you will need to go to court and the process can take a couple of months and I will of course continue to periodically check on things.”

“Wait…you’re saying I can keep Hiro?” Tadashi asked, suddenly feeling light headed.

“I’m saying, I will vouch that as of right now, you seem to be in a good position to become his guardian. A judge will have to officially grant that to you though.” Bubbles clarified. 

“I-oh of course!” Tadashi said; face breaking out into a large grin. Bubbles nodded and said,

“Have a good day.” Heathcliff came in saying,

“May I show you to the door?”

“Yes thank you,” Bubbles said, following Heathcliff out of the room. Once they were gone Tadashi burst into excited laughter, and yanked Fred to his feet to kiss him. 

“Thank you!” Tadashi exclaimed when he broke away for air. 

“What do yo-oh!” Fred exclaimed as Tadashi pulled him in for another kiss. 

Hiro covered his eyes and made a face saying, “What’s going on Dashi?”

“I get to keep you!” Tadashi exclaimed, scooping Hiro into his arms and kissing Hiro’s cheek. “Well…I most likely can!” 

“Really?” Hiro asked, still grinning, Tadashi excitedly nodded his head as Hiro cheered and threw his arms around Tadashi’s neck. Tadashi just hugged Fred and Hiro as best he could, feeling like he was floating. 

Tadashi wanted to stay with them for the rest of the day, but he couldn’t. He did unfortunately did have to get back to work. “Sorry guys but I have to get back to working. I’ll come back in for some dinner tho-” Tadashi began, reluctantly releasing Fred.

“No!” Fred exclaimed. “No way! You cannot work after news like this!” 

“I need to work though,” Tadashi argued, setting Hiro down. 

“You were working on the car when Bubbles came!” Fred countered. “And that can wait! Come on stay and build with us!” 

“What where you two building?” Tadashi asked.. 

“I was building Hamada Bro’s Inc. and Fred was making our mansion!” 

“Oh um….that looks like fun buddy but I really ca-” Tadashi began before being cut off by Fred,

“Wait! Hiro I just realized something! We might have a house, but all the other Lego people working at Hamada Bros Inc. will be homeless! Not to mention they’d all starve without supermarkets to buy food from!” 

“You’re right!” Hiro gasped, horrified. “What should we do?”

“We need to build a city for our Lego people!” Fred declared. “But we can’t do it on our own! The poor Lego people will starve before we build everything!” Tadashi glanced at Fred, eyebrows raised as Hiro ran over to Tadashi begging,

“Dashi can you help us build a city for our Lego people!” Fred collapsed to the ground next to Hiro and hugged him tightly, pouting. So maybe using a double pout was cheating, but Fred firmly told himself it was for the Lego people. 

“All right all right!” Tadashi sighed. “I’ll help save the Lego people.” 

“Yay!” Hiro exclaimed, taking Tadashi’s hand and bringing him over to their tiny Lego city. “Can you start making more houses? And make them big!”

“Hiro all the Lego people won’t have a lot of money for a big house…and they all won’t need a big house.” Tadashi patiently explained. 

“Oh…” Hiro said. “Okay then make lots of different sized houses!” 

“Good idea.” Tadashi said, grinning. 

“Should I make some stores and stuff?” Fred asked. 

“Yea definitely!” Hiro exclaimed. The three of them soon start building up a large city with houses, stores and a few skyscrapers. 

“So what do you think? Did we manage to save the Lego citizens?” Fred triumphantly asked. 

“No!” Hiro exclaimed. “We need a superhero base!”

“Superhero base?” Tadashi asked. 

“Yea to protect the Lego people from….the giant monster!” Hiro exclaimed, running over to grab one of Fred’s action figures and started ‘attacking’ the city. 

“Oh no whatever shall we do!” Fred shouted as he reached for one of the Lego construction workers and continuing in a deep voice, “Never fear! I’ll save you innocent Lego people!” 

“Fred that’s a construction worker,” Tadashi said, trying to contain his laughter. 

“Didn’t you see the Lego Movie?” Fred asked. “He’s a master builder and will save the day!” 

“Of course how could I forget?” Tadashi said, laughing. “So what will this master builder make that will save the day?” 

“An awesome super ship!” Fred declared, diving into the bin of Lego’s to quickly build a ‘spaceship’. It wasn’t the most impressive ship he’d ever built but he was pressed for time. The Lego people needed him! Once the ship was built, Fred started ‘attacking’ the monster.

“Oh no!” Hiro said in a deep voice, shaking the dinosaur toy. “I’m doomed!” 

“Pew pew! Die monster!” Fred said. 

“Oh no!” Hiro shouted, the monster falling to the ground. 

“But wait! The monsters brother is here seeking revenge!” Tadashi exclaimed, grabbing another dinosaur toy to attack. 

“Ah! Run for your lives!” Fred shouted. 

“The monsters brother revives baby monster!” Tadashi declared before biting the ship with the dinosaur, laughing maniacally. Before Fred could do anything else, Heathcliff appeared saying,

“I’m sorry to interrupt but the sink in the bathroom is flooding and needs your attention.” Tadashi reluctantly set down the toy and said, 

“No, no I should have been working….umm I’ll see you guys for dinner okay?” 

“Okay.” Fred sighed, jumping up to peck Tadashi’s cheek. Tadashi sighed and started towards the bathroom, suddenly sad to leave Hiro and Fred. He was actually starting to enjoy himself and it had been so long since he goofed off with Hiro like that. As he passed the kitchen he noticed Mary and Amelia in the kitchen and was going to continue on his way until he heard something that made him freeze.

“Tadashi is such a bum!” Mary hissed. Tadashi had no idea why they suddenly hated him so much; he’d thought they liked him before… 

“I know!” Amelia groaned. 

“Apparently to get into a good job around here you just need to sleep with Fred!” Mary snapped, making Tadashi’s heart freeze in his chest. They thought he was sleeping with Fred to get the job?

“And he just flaunts it around and hardly does any work like the rest of us!” Amelia agreed.

“I saw him goofing off not too long ago, playing with Lego’s like a child!” Mary groaned. “It’s pathetic! He could at least admit he’s getting paid for sex.” Tadashi knew he should move and get back to work, but their words left him frozen in his spot. I shouldn’t be surprised…Tadashi bitterly thought it’s not like this is anything new. Students claimed Tadashi slept with Callaghan to get the scholarship or was sleeping with a hard professor to get an A. Everyone always seemed to think he was using sex to get things from people. Why? Why was he only seen as a walking sex machine…?

“Is something wrong Mr. Hamada?” Heathcliff softly asked, startling Tadashi. 

“N-no…” Tadashi stammered. Did Heathcliff think he was sleeping with Fred to get the job too? Did he despise Tadashi as much as Mary and Amelia? Had he heard what they were saying? Tadashi didn’t want to know. “I-I should go…” Tadashi added, hurrying off before Heathcliff could say anything, missing the glare he sent into the kitchen at Amelia and Mary before determinedly walking off towards where Fred and Hiro where.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was probably the most fun and difficult chapter for me to write. Not to mention the longest. I should warn everyone though, this chapter does get pretty heated but I promise nothing happens.

Tadashi furiously started working on the bathroom sink. He would prove to them he was working just as hard as they were and that he was here because he did his job well, not because he used sex to get here. You're only here because he's dating you… a voice darkly whispered. No…he'd do this even if we were just friends Tadashi firmly told himself and forced himself to focus on his work. No, Fred did this because they were friends. He'd done similar things for his other friends before; they just didn't know it was him getting them money when they needed it.

In the past when people said things like this about him he was able to shrug it off and move on, but with Fred it felt…different. Maybe it was because secretly he was terrified that the only reason Fred was doing this was because he wanted sex. Though they'd never had a long conversation on the subject, the topic had come up before and Fred knew that Tadashi really didn't want sex yet. But that was a long time ago, what if Fred thought Tadashi's opinion in the subject changed or….what if he really didn't care what Tadashi thought. He'd done so much and so far hadn't asked for anything in return. If Fred asked, could he really say no after all he'd done for Tadashi? He probably owed it to Fred…

Tadashi angrily threw the wrench he was using back into his toolbox and leaned back against the counter. How was he supposed to get any work done if he kept getting distracted? He needed to focus. If he didn't he'd risk losing Hiro, and Tadashi refused to let that happen,

"Tadashi?" Fred asked, poking his head into the bathroom.

"Hey Fred," Tadashi greeted, trying to sit up and smile. He couldn't tell Fred about what he'd heard what if he didn't believe him? And even if Fred did believe him what could Fred possibly do? All telling him anything would do is stir up trouble and make people angry, and Fred didn't deserve to have to deal with any more of Tadashi's troubles.

"Everything okay?" Fred asked sitting down.

"Yea just a little tired," Tadashi lied. He would not dump any more of his problems onto Fred; he had enough to deal with.

"Probably because you've been working non-stop since you got here two weeks ago," Fred deadpanned a strange look on his face.

"I was playing with Hiro-" Tadashi began, but Fred cut him off.

"For like five minutes! You need to take a real break!"

"I'd love to but I need to work to-"

"According to Heathcliff, if you don't take a break, you'll start violating labor laws….well actually you have. So he told me to tell you, after you finish this sink you can't work again until Monday." Fred declared.

"But that's two days from now!" Tadashi exclaimed. Two perfectly good work days that he couldn't let go to waste.

"Dude, labor laws! You need to take a couple days off!" Fred exclaimed. "Or if that's not good enough, would you do it for me and Hiro? I-I want to take you out on a date tonight and I'm sure Hiro would love to spend a weekend with his big bro." Mr. Lee had made it very clear that Heathcliff was his right hand man and that if Heathcliff said Tadashi needed to do something, he should do it.

"All right, all right…I should have the sink done in an hour and then I won't work until Monday," Tadashi relented. Fred grinned brightly at him and asked,

"Will you go out with me tonight?"

"Who will watch Hiro?" Tadashi asked.

"Heathcliff already offered…in fact he was the one who suggested I take you out for a date night."

"Seriously?" Tadashi asked, amazed. He was sure Heathcliff despised him like the others seemed too.

"Yea, I think he loves watching Hiro and he really likes you," Fred said. "So?" Tadashi really missed going on quiet dates with Fred. Any time spent with him these past two weeks had always included Hiro. And as much as Tadashi loved him, some time with just Fred would be nice. It might even help him relax and not worry so much about what Fred was 'actually' thinking about him,

"Yea," Tadashi finally said, "That would be wonderful."

\--------

Initially Fred had been worried that Tadashi would say no to the date, but when he said yes, Fred was sure he would start floating. He couldn't remember the last time he and Tadashi went on a date with just the two of them, it would be really nice. Two hours after Fred talked to Tadashi the pair where on Tadashi's moped heading to the Lucky Cat Café.

Since Heathcliff was watching Hiro, Tadashi offered to drive them on his moped, claiming he hadn't driven it in a while and wanted to again and though Fred would have rather had Tadashi just sitting back and relaxing, he technically wasn't working so Fred couldn't complain. Soon they reached the café which was surprisingly busy given the hour.

"Tadashi?" Aunt Cass asked when she spotted the pair.

"Hey Aunt Cass…" Tadashi said with a small wave.

"Hi I didn't expect to see you so soon!" She exclaimed, excitedly hugging Tadashi before turning to Fred saying, "Fred right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Fred agreed.

"Oh just call me Cass or Aunt Cass if you'd like…" She said. "You called me about the funeral right?"

"Yea…" Fred said, feeling sheepishly admitted.

"How did you find me?" She asked. Fred had really hoped no one would ask.

"Well…when I was helping Hiro pack his things he said their might be something in his parents room so I started looking through it and I found some pictures with you in it and then I found an old invite for the grand opening of the Café and the rest is history…"

"She kept that?" Aunt Cass said, eyes going misty.

"Yea…" Fred said, hoping Tadashi wouldn't get mad at him for snooping through his parents stuff.

"Well….thank you for contacting me," Aunt Cass said. "Thanks to you I got to meet my nephews!" Before giving Fred a tight hug.

"It was nothing…" Fred mumbled.

"Well not to me," She said, letting go. "So, what brings you two here tonight?"

"Well….we're on a date…" Tadashi sheepishly said, growing tense. Probably waiting for her to be disgusted or angry. Instead she squealed excitedly and exclaimed,

"A date! Is this your first date or?"

"Oh no we've been together for three years now," Tadashi explained, "We started dating our senior year of high school."

"Aww that's so sweet!" Aunt Cass cooed. "Let me get you two lovebirds a table!"

"Thanks," Tadashi mumbled, face turning bright red. Aunt Cass winked and led the pair to a table near the back where it was much quieter and gave them menus.

"She took that better than I thought," Tadashi said with an awkward laugh. Aunt Cass soon came back and set a candle on the table and lit it, whispering something in Tadashi's ears that made him turn bright red.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone then," Aunt Cass said with a teasing wave causing Tadashi to groan. Laughing, Fred said,

"I think she approves of our relationship!"

"You have no idea…" Tadashi mumbled, burying his face in the menu. Fred smiled at Tadashi's embarrassment and started looking through the menu as well.

A few minutes later Cass came and took their orders before leaving again.

"Your aunt's interesting." Fred said with a laugh.

"No kidding," Tadashi agreed with a nervous laugh.

"A little too interesting if you ask me," Fred dramatically whispered.

"Don't tell me you think she's a super hero," Tadashi sighed with a laugh.

"No that would be ridiculous," Fred said, waving his hand dismissively. "Definitely an alien though."

"What?" Tadashi asked with a laugh.

"Think about it. Parents die, she appears out of nowhere with an elaborate yet convenient back story as to how you would have never met the aunt who lives in the same city as you!" Fred whispered, wearily eyeing the room. "Maybe she's using the food to possess people and turn them into aliens!"

Tadashi burst out laughing and said, "I think you must have hit your head because that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!" Fred grinned when Tadashi started laughing. So maybe Fred didn't believe in alien conspiracy theories, but Tadashi didn't need to know that.

"Oh come on, every comic involving alien's starts with a relative appearing out of nowhere. Before you know it, she'll be knocking us off and replacing us with more aliens!"

"Why?" Tadashi asked, smirking.

"Duh, once over fifty percent of the population has been replaced by aliens the aliens will take over Earth!" Fred exclaimed.

"Why are aliens always trying to take over Earth?" Tadashi asked. "I mean they have a home planet right?"

"Well it's kind of like when Britain colonized the U.S.," Fred said. "They want more land or maybe their home planet was destroyed and they need a new home!"

"Okay the colonizing thing might make sense, but wouldn't NASA notice a planet exploding?" Tadashi skeptically asked.

"Not if it's in a different Solar System!" Fred exclaimed.

"Then why come out so far? There has to be other inhabitable planets between this supposed home planet and Earth."

"Maybe they've already colonized those planets!" Fred declared.

"Then we colonize Earth?"

"Don't ask me I'm not the alien!" Fred exclaimed. Before Tadashi could respond Cass appeared carrying a tray with their food on it and set their plates down in front of them saying,

"Enjoy!"

"That was quick…. A little too quick," Fred declared, eyeing her. Partially wondering how much fun Cass was and partially to hear Tadashi laugh. Honestly though no matter what she said Fred could find a way to make it work in his theory. Tadashi would probably try and put logic into it, but Fred was good with making up things that strangely worked. It both amused and frustrated Tadashi which just added to the fun of it.

"Quick?" Cass innocently asked. "I thought I was being slow. I mean I had to use my backup food replicator and it's so much slower." Fred stared at her, mouth gaping as she walked away saying, "Enjoy!" Once she was gone the pair burst out laughing.

"I think she heard you!" Tadashi exclaimed in between his laughter.

"Yea I think so!" Fred agreed, his laughter cutting off as he added, "If I suddenly die or start acting strange you know who to blame." Tadashi rolled his eyes with a chuckle and took a bite out of his food.

"Wouldn't my food also be poisoned or something because you told me this theory?"

"Umm no obviously you don't believe me and she wants to use you to get my families fortune!"

"She doesn't know about your fortune," Tadashi informed him, smirking. Fred quickly took a bite out of his food, dramatically and making choking sounds. Tadashi groaned but Fred saw the smile on his face and knew he wasn't really that annoyed.

"You gonna die on me?" Tadashi playfully asked.

"Y-y-yes…" Fred whispered. "The alien poison…..is….killing….me!" Fred dramatically gasped.

"I thought she wanted to convert you?" Tadashi asked, laughing.

Instead of answering Fred gasped, "I….love….you!" Grinning, Tadashi leaned over and pecked Fred on the lips. Fred froze and exclaimed, "Hey! True loves kiss must be the cure!" Tadashi turned bright red and looked down at his plate. For the rest of the night Fred excitedly told Tadashi all about his comics involving aliens and how it was 'proof' that his aunt could be one as well. Though Fred did most of the talking, Tadashi was smiling and laughing and looked genuinely happy and that was all Fred wanted.

Tadashi finished his food before Fred and was leaning against his hand, listening to Fred as he animated talked. Fred focused on Tadashi's face, stammering to a stop when he noticed how intensely Tadashi was watching him with his gorgeous brown eyes with a warm smile on his face. Tadashi blinked rapidly and asked,

"Uh something wrong?"

"No, just admiring your beautiful smile." Tadashi nervously laughed and started rubbing the back of his neck making Fred's heart flutter. How did he get such an adorable boyfriend? Suddenly Aunt Cass appeared saying,

"Can I get you boys anything for dessert?"

"No thanks, I'm stuffed," Tadashi said.

"Same, can we get the bill?" Fred asked.

"Don't worry about it, on the house!" Aunt Cass declared with a smile.

"N-no we couldn't possibl-" Tadashi argued but Aunt Cass wouldn't hear it.

"No I insist! Consider it one of many Christmas and Birthday gifts that I owe you. Please." She added, looking at them pleadingly.

"Okay….thank you." Tadashi reluctantly agreed.

"Of course sweetie! Now please come back anytime!" She said with a smile.

"Definitely!" Tadashi said, standing up. "See you!"

"Bye!" Aunt Cass said, waving. Fred and Tadashi weaved their way through the still crowded Café and got onto Tadashi's moped.

"That was really nice," Tadashi said once they were driving, "Thank you."

"Anything to see that smile," Fred said. "You deserve it."

"Thanks…" Tadashi said in a strange tone, Fred noticed the strange tone and wanted to ask but didn't say anything when he noticed the large amount of cars on the street. He knew Tadashi hated it when he tried talking when there was a lot of traffic. The drive back to the mansion was painfully long and Tadashi's drop in mood was starting to worry him. When they reached the mansion finally, Tadashi silently parked the moped and went inside. Once Fred was sure they were alone in the entryway he asked,

"Well I'm sure Hiro is in bed by now…do you want to hang out in my room for a little bit?"

"Yea…" Tadashi said, sounding nervous.

"Hey everything okay?" Fred asked.

"Y-yea…just thinking about work and stuff…"

"Well maybe I can help you not think about that stuff," Fred said, taking Tadashi's hand.

"Maybe…" Tadashi mumbled glancing down at the ground. "You shouldn't worry about me though…" he added, looking up at Fred. Fred looked into Tadashi's eyes he realized he'd never loved a partner before, not like he loved Tadashi. He might have thought it did, but what he was feeling now was so different from how he felt about any partner. He'd so carelessly tossed the word love about, but until now he hadn't really thought about how much he truly loved Tadashi. Usually the sight of his partner made his heart start beating madly in his chest, but when he was with Tadashi he felt safe and warm, he was home. He could bring the smile back on Fred's face no matter how bad his day was and had a heart of gold that he wore on his sleeve, pouring love and compassion into everyone he met. He genuinely cared about Fred in a way no one had before, he spent so much time worrying about others he never stopped to think about his own needs. Well not tonight, tonight Fred was determined to make Tadashi happy, and he knew exactly what to do to make this a night he would never forget.

Fred gently tugged on Tadashi's hand and started leading him through the mansion to his room. Tadashi looked nervous and uncertain as they walked; Fred hoped that his nervousness would soon turn into pure euphoria. The halls where strangely empty as Fred led Tadashi to his room, he was barely able to resist the urge to start kissing him senseless until they made it to Fred's room. The halls seemed to stretch out longer than usual as they walked, so when they finally reached his door Fred opened it and pulled Tadashi inside, pulling him into a passionate kiss the moment the door closed. Tadashi tensed for a moment against him before melting into the kiss with a soft moan. Fred wrapped his hands around the back of Tadashi's neck, pulling him even closer, his heart pounding in his chest. Tadashi wrapped his arms around Fred's waist, grabbing handfuls of his shirt.

Fred's mind was lost in a fog; all he could think about was Tadashi as he guided him over to the bed, frantically kissing him. Fred gently pushed him down onto his bed, kissing and nipping his neck before returning to Tadashi's lips. He could feel Tadashi's heart hammering in his chest, matching his own hearts frantic beating. He craved the feeling of their skin touching, to feel Tadashi's muscles beneath his fingertips. Fred's hand slipped under Tadashi's shirt, tracing his fingers along his well-toned chest, memorizing every bump and curve, causing Tadashi to shiver at the touch. They momentarily parted for air before pressing their lips together again so hard Fred was sure they'd bruise. Fred nudged in between Tadashi's legs and rolled his hips down, pressing his bulge against Tadashi.

Fred couldn't recall a time he ever wanted someone so much. Sex had always been something he'd been very laid back about. Though he really enjoyed sex, he didn't jump into bed with every partner he had. To him sex was meant to be shared between two people who loved each other deeply. He'd never had a partner before that he craved to have sex with, now that he had Tadashi lying beneath him kissing him he wanted to make love with him until he had Tadashi writhing and moaning in pleasure. Without even thinking about it he pulled off Tadashi's shirt and started kissing and nipping his neck, fingers fumbling with the button of Tadashi's pants. Fred managed to undue the button and slid his hand in to caress his skin and felt Tadashi stiffen beneath him. Fred reluctantly pulled away and asked,

"Is this okay?" His limbs tingled with excitement, begging him to just keep going, but he couldn't, wouldn't. Not until he was sure Tadashi was okay with this.

Tadashi didn't look comfortable though, he looked terrified. Tadashi swallowed and mumbled, "Y-yea…"

He wanted to keep going so badly, Tadashi said yes, but everything about his body language screamed no; he was tense, limbs shaking, his eyes pleading for this to stop. Fred sat up and said,

"You don't sound okay with this."

"I-I am…" Tadashi stammered, refusing to meet Fred's eyes. Fred wanted to ravish his boyfriend but he forced himself to not to. This was wrong. Tadashi was not okay with this.

"You don't have to be okay with this. We can stop," Fred assured, hurt that Tadashi was lying about this. Wishing Tadashi would just say no so his mind would stop telling him to take Tadashi right now. It would be so much easier to ignore the burning passion if Tadashi just said no.

"I'm fine let's just do it okay?" Tadashi said, sitting up and trying to kiss Fred again, he desperately wanted to let him kiss Fred and for them to fall onto the bed in a tangle of limbs, but he forced himself to place a hand on Tadashi's chest and push him back saying,

"No, what's going on? I don't want you to feel like you have to-"

"Do I have a choice?" Tadashi snapped. "I can't say no!" Fred was stunned by his words, why would he even think that?

"Yes you can," Fred whispered. "Why would you think you can't?"

"You got me a job, a place to stay, helped me keep Hiro! I owe you this!" Tadashi cried. Fred found himself entranced by Tadashi's bruised lips, but forced him to focus on Tadashi's eyes, his deep beautiful brown eyes….Fred shook his head, trying to dislodge the dangerous thoughts. He needed to focus on what Tadashi was saying. This was all so wrong….

"No, no, no back up!" Fred exclaimed. "This is…no. You shouldn't ever feel like you owe anyone sex! I did all of that because I love you, not for sex." Fred carefully reached out to cup Tadashi's cheek in his hand. "You mean the world to me…I wanted you to be happy."

"I haven't given you anything though!" Tadashi exclaimed.

"Sex isn't something you should ever just give someone. It's special, and you should only give it when you feel comfortable." Fred said, desperately trying to stay focused on the conversation, but he was hard and it was becoming so difficult to focus. It would be so much easier if- no he would not let his mind go there.

"Bu-"

"And I'm sorry I pressured you." Fred said, refusing to let Tadashi try and fight him anymore, afraid he might just give in and do something he knew they both would regret. What had he done to make Tadashi think like this? His mind was wandering in dangerous places and it was getting more difficult to talk. He couldn't do this right now.

"Fred please I-" Tadashi begged, but Fred shook his head and pulled his hand away.

"M-maybe we should sleep this off…" Fred mumbled, reluctantly standing up and moving away from Tadashi.

"Fred-"

"I love you Tadashi so much but…I-I need to be alone okay?" Tadashi stared at him for a moment, looking hurt and afraid before picking up his shirt and running out of the room. When he was alone Fred collapsed back into the bed with a groan, heart still pounding and desperately missing Tadashi's touch. How did he manage to screw up a perfectly good evening so badly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this! I'm admittedly very inexperienced in this area so I apologize for any uh errors. Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed this fic! And I know I've usually been updating about every two days but a good friend is flying in from out of state and will be staying until Monday so best case scenario I can post again Monday night but more likely it will be Tuesday before I update again. Have a wonderful weekend guys!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, this chapter gave me a lot of problems which is why it's a little late and their are several spots I'm really worried about so I hope you guys like it.

Tadashi was standing in Fred’s room, Fred was standing on the other side of the room, glaring at Tadashi. 

“After all I’ve done for you, you can’t do this one thing for me?”

“No I can I just-”

“No! We’re done Tadashi! I never want to see you again!”

“What? Fred no please!”

“Get out!”

Suddenly Bubbles was standing in front of him and was taking Hiro away. “No! Don’t take him please!” 

“It’s too late,” Bubbles growled, driving away with Hiro. 

“No! Please don’t!” 

“You failed,” His father said, suddenly standing in front of him. “You lost your brother.”

“I’m disgusted with you,” his mother whispered, unable to look him in the eye. 

“Mom…dad…please,” Tadashi begged. 

“I’m disgusted to call you my son,” His dad whispered.

Tadashi’s eyes flew open and he sat up, covered in sweat. Tadashi glanced over at Hiro’s bed, surprised to find him their instead of with Tadashi. This was the first night since the crash that Hiro hadn’t crawled into Tadashi’s bed in the middle of the night. While it was probably good for Hiro to not be sleeping in his brother’s bed every night, a part of Tadashi wished Hiro was sleeping next to him. 

Tadashi sighed and glanced over at the clock, groaning when he saw it was only three a.m. Tadashi laid down and rolled on his side, trying to get back to sleep, but dark thoughts ran rampant in his mind. He probably ruined his relationship with Fred and jeopardized being able to keep Hiro. How could he have been so stupid? Why couldn’t he just do it? 

Tadashi eventually drifted off into a fitful sleep. All he could think about was the fear of this costing him his job and the possibility of losing Hiro for good. Around seven a.m. Tadashi realized he wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep and silently got up so he wouldn’t disturb Hiro. Before he could get very far though Hiro sleepily sat up and asked,

“Dashi? Where you goin’?”

“Sorry if I woke you buddy. I’m just having trouble sleeping is all….” Tadashi mumbled, voice cracking. He needed to pull himself together; he would not let his little brother worry about his problems.

Hiro carefully climbed out of bed and walked over to Tadashi asking, “Why? Do you have dreams about mamma and papa?” 

“No,” Tadashi assured, carefully sitting down on the ground. “Are you?” 

“We’re not talkin’ about me Dashi!” Hiro countered. “You’re the one who’s sad.” 

“I’m not sad,” Tadashi lied. 

“Then why are you crying?” Hiro asked, reaching up to try and wipe some tears Tadashi hadn’t noticed falling. Tadashi sighed and picked up Hiro and set him in his lap saying,

“It’s not your job to worry about me buddy.” 

“But you’re my brother. And you said brothers help each other when they’re sad,” Hiro argued. Tadashi flashed Hiro a weak smile and agreed,

“Yea they are supposed to…” 

“So I want to help make you happy.” Hiro said. A part of Tadashi wanted to just dump all of his fears and concerns and just have someone tell him it would be okay. But this was his baby brother, and he would never do that to him. So he’d just suck it up and make sure Hiro was happy and not worrying about him. 

Tadashi chuckled and assured, “having you here with me makes me happy.” 

“Really?” Hiro asked, eyes lighting up. 

“Yea,” Tadashi promised. “Are you happy?” 

“Yea...” Hiro said, smile sliding off of his face. 

“What is it buddy?” 

“Is it bad to be happy?” Hiro asked. 

“No, no of course not!” Tadashi assured, quickly realizing what Hiro meant. “Mom and dad would not want you living the rest of your life sad and missing them. They’d want you to be happy.” 

“How do you know that?” Hiro sheepishly asked. 

“Because they loved you,” Tadashi said. “And when you love someone they want you to be happy.”

“So….it’s okay for me to sometimes be happy?” Hiro sheepishly asked. 

“Definitely!” Tadashi assured. “And it’s also okay to have some sad days.”

“Sad days?” Hiro asked. 

“Days where you really miss mom and dad more then you normally do,” Tadashi explained. “Days where it’s really hard to smile…” Tadashi trailed off, frowning. Tadashi never knew when or if he’d have an off day. Sometimes the day would start out okay and then his parents’ death would hit him like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t easy. Tadashi forced the thoughts out of his mind; Hiro was his priority right now. “Whatever your feeling is okay, after what you’ve been through…you’ll be a little emotional for a while but then you’ll get better and go long periods of time without feeling sad when you think about them and that’s okay. Soon you’ll be able to look back at the good memories and smile instead of feeling sad. Does that make sense?” Hiro nodded his head and asked, 

“Where you having a sad day?” Causing Tadashi to sigh. He’d hoped Hiro forgot about that. 

“Sort of…though it wasn’t mom and dad…” 

“Then what was it?” Hiro asked. 

“It’s grown up stuff…” Tadashi said, running a hand through Hiro’s hair. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“But you’re sad!” Hiro exclaimed. 

“You can’t fix this one buddy.” Tadashi said. 

“Can it be fixed?” Hiro worriedly asked. 

“I don’t know…” Tadashi admitted. 

Tadashi knew he probably should go find Fred and try talking to him again, but he was terrified of what might happen when he did. Would Fred end things with him? Was Tadashi’s emotional rollercoaster ride getting to be too much for Fred? 

Looking back, Tadashi realized he was being ridiculous. Fred had said they could stop, but Tadashi didn’t believe him. Why couldn’t Tadashi believe him? Why did he suddenly feel like he was walking on eggshells around his boyfriend? They had been friends since they were in middle school; they’d seen each other and their lowest and had been dating for three years. They loved each other and had never had problems in their relationship before, where was all of this coming from? 

“Can I help?” Hiro asked, nuzzling against Tadashi. 

“No buddy, I need to do this on my own.” Tadashi informed him. “But…maybe after I take care of this…do you want to go to the park?” 

“Okay!” Hiro said, grinning. “Then we can finish out Lego city with Fred!” Tadashi forced himself to keep the smile on his face at the mention of his boyfriend, well current boyfriend at least. 

“Yea, definitely.” Tadashi said, not wanting to upset his brother over nothing. Maybe it would be okay. Sighing, Tadashi decided it was probably best to just get this over with. Whatever Fred would say had to be better than this waiting. He carefully set Hiro down at got dressed, trying to keep himself calm. Once he was ready he walked over to Fred’s room, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves before raising his fist to knock on the door as the door opened. 

“Tadashi!” Fred exclaimed, staring at Tadashi’s raised fist as Tadashi lowered it, feeling embarrassed. If he had been a half a second quicker he would have punched Fred’s face.

“I uh….I-I thought w-we…er…” Tadashi stammered, unable to form the words he needed to say.

“Um, we should talk…” Fred mumbled, glancing at the floor. “That’s uh…that’s what you wanted to do right?” He added, timidly looking up at Tadashi who nodded. Fred stepped aside and gestured for Tadashi to come in, which he did, Fred shutting the door behind him. They stood several feet apart, unable to look at each other or speak for several tense minutes before both said,

“I’m sorry!” Causing both to laugh weakly. 

“You ca-” Tadashi said as Fred said,

“No, no you should…” causing them both to let out another awkward laugh. 

“Okay I need to say this,” Fred finally said, “I’m so sorry Tadashi. I just got so caught up in the moment I-I just started going for it without even asking if you were okay with it.”

“But you stopped before anything happened,” Tadashi argued. 

“Yea when I finally noticed you were getting uncomfortable,” Fred sighed. “We-I should have stopped and talked before things went that far. I’m so sorry I put you in that position.”

“You still stopped, even when I said yes…you didn’t just keep going like anyone else probably would have done. You actually cared to make sure I really wanted it. So thank you.”

“I just don’t want anyone to feel pressured to have sex when they don’t want to. It’s wrong.” Fred said. “I-I…Tadashi…did you feel like you needed to sleep with me because you were worried we’d break up and…and you’d lose Hiro?” Fred reluctantly asked, making Tadashi stiffen. 

“Yes…” Tadashi whispered, bracing himself for the inevitable. “I-I…I’m sorry….all I could think about was Hiro and…and…” Tadashi wrapped his arms around himself, looking anywhere but Fred. “Fred I-I swear I…I didn’t start dating you for your money or anything but…but ever since I started working here…I’ve been terrified of upsetting you and causing us to break up but I was more worried about losing Hiro then you…I-I’m sorry…I’m a terrible boyfriend…m-maybe…we should end it…you deserve better a-”

“Tadashi stop,” Fred said, placing his hands on Tadashi’s shoulders. “Just slow down for a minute. I called my dad this morning and…well we realized we should have known something like this might happen. I mean we’re dating and you need to live here and keep this job to keep Hiro and…and I’m scared I might be tempted to take advantage of the situation…of you…”

“You wouldn’t!” Tadashi argued.

“You say that now but last night says you think differently,” Fred argued. 

“And for that you should hate me,” Tadashi sighed. 

“No I don’t. Maybe I should but I don’t, it doesn’t feel right to” Fred declared. “I know how you feel about me, we started dating before you know I had money and you never asked for me to help you. This whole situation is fucked up and don’t say anything I know I cursed but it’s true. It’s a fucked up situation with no good answer. My dad and I just dove in without thinking the repercussions through. We didn’t really have a choice though, it was either act or see you lose Hiro and we thought just doing this was better.”

“But you think it’s not…” Tadashi said, heart pounding in his chest, fearing where this was going. Fred sighed and admitted,

“Tadashi I love you but if there was a way for you to get a different job I would say you should do it…because this is really dangerous for our relationship but I also know losing Hiro is not an option so we need to do the best we can with what we’ve got.”

“Which means what?” Tadashi asked, heart clenching. 

“My dad and I talked to Heathcliff as we thought it best that when it comes to pay and firing Heathcliff would be the only one involved so that if something happens, which I really hope it doesn’t, it won’t affect you….I mean as long as you aren’t cheating or anything like that.”

“But couldn’t you threaten Heathcliff’s job if he doesn’t fire me if we break up?” Tadashi asked, hating that he was now putting Heathcliff’s job in danger.

“No well my dad and Heathcliff don’t think so,” Fred said, shrugging. “Heathcliff has been working for my dad since before I was born. Heathcliff knows my dad wouldn’t fire him for something like that so…don’t worry about it okay?” 

“I don’t know…” Tadashi mumbled.

“Tadashi I know you’re nervous but I promise nothing will happen to Heathcliff,” Fred assured. Tadashi wasn’t sure he could just not worry about it, but he’d try. 

“All right…I trust you.” Tadashi assured, causing Fred to momentarily start beaming before frowning. 

“Tadashi…you don’t have to answer but…why di-….I mean is there a-….” Fred stammered before pausing for a moment. “Never mind…”

“What?” Tadashi asked.

“It’s…no it’s better that I don’t ask.” 

“Please?” Tadashi begged. Fred nervously bit his bottom lip before reluctantly asking,

“Was there an um….reason you didn’t want to…you know…I mean…is…are we not-”

“There are a lot of reason’s…and it’s not because I don’t love you” Tadashi admitted, “I know it sounds old fashioned but I feel like sex is something really special that should be saved for marriage….like something you only give to the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. And I am I Christian so-”

“You’re still a Christian?” Fred asked eyes wide.

“Yea…should I have stopped? Did you stop?” Tadashi asked. 

“Yea I mean….church made it very clear we’re not welcome…” Fred mumbled. 

“Your church kicked you out for being gay?” Tadashi asked, heart clenching.

“Yea why wouldn’t they? They’re always saying being gay is a sin so-”

“Even if it is, which I wonder if it really is, God won’t just send all the gays to Hell. It doesn’t work like that.”

“The church seems to think it does,” Fred grumbled.

“I’m sorry but no,” Tadashi firmly said. “Any church that’s like that has no right to call themselves a Christian organization. We’re supposed spread love and compassion, not hate and rejection. God loves you and-…why don’t you come with me to church and see for yourself?”

“Huh?” Fred asked.

“If you want,” Tadashi quickly added. “I won’t force you but I really would love it if you came and saw what a real church should act like.” 

“I-I don’t know…” Fred mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, refusing to meet Tadashi’s gaze.

“You don’t have to but I’d love it if you did,” Tadashi hopefully added. Fred stared at the floor for a minute before slowly looking up at Tadashi, nervously rocking himself for a moment before saying,

“Okay. I’ll come with you.”

“Really?” Tadashi asked, a wide grin spreading across his face. 

A small smile on his face, Fred assured, “Yea. I should give the church another chance…” Tadashi grinned and pulled Fred into a tight hug saying,

“Thanks you!” Before kissing him. Blushing, Tadashi pulled back saying, “Sorry I should hav-” Fred quickly silenced him with a peck to his lips and said,

“You don’t need to ask to kiss me,” and kissed him again. Fred reluctantly pulled back asking, “So um….did you have any plans for the day…?”

“Um I was planning on taking Hiro to the park and then he really wanted to work more on the Lego city with you. You’re more than welcome to come to the park with us!” Fred looked like he really wanted to say yes, but after a moment he said,

“No….you and Hiro haven’t had any big bro little bro time in a while. You two have fun.”

“You sure?” Tadashi asked.

“Yea, you two have a blast okay?” Fred asked. “We can hang out and work on rebuilding Lego city after the horrific monster attack.”

“Okay,” Tadashi agreed, kissing Fred’s cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Fred said. “Now go! I’ll see you tonight okay?”

“Okay,” Tadashi agreed, unable to resist leaning over to kiss him one last time before going to get Hiro, a wide grin on his face. He had been worried for nothing. He was fine, they were fine and Tadashi was sure this day couldn’t get any better.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little shorter then what I've usually written but I hope you guys enjoy it still.

Tadashi grinned down at Hiro as he skipped alongside Tadashi; it was nice being able to spend time with just Hiro. Tadashi chuckled as he watched Hiro carefully jump over every crack in the sidewalk and asked,

“What are you doing buddy?” 

“Fred says stepping on a crack can break your guardian’s back!” Hiro exclaimed, making Tadashi start to laugh before freezing. The real expression was your mom’s back but Tadashi couldn’t bring himself to correct Hiro.

“Well…thank you for trying to keep my back from breaking,” Tadashi said. 

“You’re welcome!” Hiro exclaimed. “I don’t want my Dashi’s back breaking!” Tadashi laughed and continued to walk; glad he decided to walk with Hiro instead of riding with Heathcliff. 

Heathcliff offered to drive them when Tadashi realized he couldn’t exactly drive Hiro on his moped, but Tadashi declined the offer. The park wasn’t too far and it would be good for them to walk. When they arrived, the park was strangely deserted. Hiro though didn’t seem to mind and ran over to the swings. He’d always been very shy and didn’t like going to the park when their where a lot of kids around.

“Push me Dashi!” Hiro exclaimed, eyes light up in excitement. Grinning, Tadashi walked over to him and did as he asked, pushing Hiro higher and higher. Letting out an excited shout, Hiro jumped off of the swing and landed in the sand, laughing. 

“Hiro!” Tadashi shouted, running over to his brother. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine!” Hiro assured, laughing, “That was fun! Can we do that again?”

“No!” Tadashi exclaimed. “Hiro you shouldn’t do that, you could have gotten hurt!” 

Hiro huffed in annoyance and grumbled, “Fine…” Before grinning and running to play some more, excitedly calling Tadashi to follow. For the next hour Tadashi ran around the park with Hiro, and though Hiro seemed to have an abundance of energy still, Tadashi was starting to get tired. He wanted to sit down, but he knew Hiro didn’t like playing by himself. Thankfully, a woman with a young boy arrived in the park and while the woman sat down on the bench, the boy ran over to the monkey bars and started playing on them. The young boy had blue hair, tan skin and bright blue eyes. Grinning, Tadashi kneeled down next to Hiro and said,

“Hey buddy why don’t you go and say hi to him?”

“I’d rather play with you Dashi…” Hiro mumbled, moving closer to Tadashi. 

“I’m getting kind of tired buddy,” Tadashi admitted. “Besides, you might make a new friend.”

“Okay…” Hiro nervously mumbled before slowly walking over to the boy. Grinning Tadashi sat down on a bench in the shade to watch. Before he reached the monkey bars, Hiro froze and started to back away nervously. The boy though spotted Hiro and dropped down and ran over to him, excitedly talking. After talking to Hiro for a minute, Hiro flashed a small smile and started following the boy. 

“May I sit here?” A voice asked, startling Tadashi. He looked over at the woman who had brought the boy to the park. Her skin was much darker then the boys and she had dark brown curly hair and green eyes. 

“Of yea of course,” Tadashi said, scooting over so he wasn’t in the middle of the bench. “I’m Tadashi.”

“Hello I’m Hera.” Hera said.

“Is that your son?” Tadashi asked.

“Yes, his name’s Ezra.”

“That’s my brother Hiro playing with him.”

“Your parents must appreciate you taking your brother to the park,” Hera complimented. Tadashi felt his chest tighten as he mumbled, 

“I-uh…I hope…they…they’re not around anymore…”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Hera whispered. “I shouldn’t have assumed…”

“It’s okay,” Tadashi assured. “You didn’t mean any harm.”

“I still feel bad though…” Hera admitted. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Tadashi assured. “How old is Ezra?”

“Umm….five….we think…” Hera mumbled. 

“Think?” Tadashi asked, surprised.

“Well…we adopted him a year ago but the orphanage we adopted him from found him on their doorstep when he was very young. They think he’s five but we’re not entirely sure.” She explained.

“Oh…that must be hard…” 

“Not really,” Hera assured. “We just celebrate his birthday on the day the orphanage found him and just assume he’s five…until proven otherwise. The school insisted we wait to enroll him until this fall in any case.”

“Hiro is five too. He’ll also be starting school in the fall.” Tadashi explained, grinning as Hiro ran off after Ezra. “…wow…I’ve never seen Hiro warm up to someone so quickly…”

Laughing, Hera explained, “I’m not surprised, Ezra just loves talking to people. He just has a way of making people feel comfortable around him.”

“Hiro can be a chatterbox once he’s comfortable with someone. He’s usually pretty shy though so there are only a few people he’s really comfortable with…none of them are his age though sadly…well…maybe he has one…” Tadashi added as he watched Hiro follow Ezra back up onto the monkey bars. 

“I hope so,” Hera agreed, smiling. “Kids need friends their own age.” Over the next hour more children started coming into the park, but Hiro and Ezra stuck together. From where he was sitting, Tadashi could tell Hiro was starting to get nervous with so many kids playing on the playground. Ezra also seemed to notice this and moved to play in the less crowded grass area. After that Hiro stuck with Ezra like glue, and it seemed Ezra wasn’t really interested in talking with any of the other kids. 

Tadashi found that he enjoyed talking to Hera, she was easy to talk too and she listened to what Tadashi had to say. It was even more interesting hearing about her history; she was a pilot in the army and got an honorary discharge when she was injured in the line of duty. 

“Things never got boring, that’s for sure,” Hera was saying with a fond smile. “I almost miss all the action…” Hera trained off when a phone went off and pulled her phone out of her purse saying, “Sorry but Ezra and I need to go.”

“I understand. Hiro and I should probably head home too…”

“Is it alright if I grabbed your number?” Hera asked. “Knowing Ezra he’ll want to see Hiro again.”

“Yea of course,” Tadashi said. Hera handed her Tadashi’s phone and he entered his number in and sent himself a text with her phone. 

“Great, thanks,” Hero said, taking her phone back. “It was nice meeting you.”

“And you as well.” Tadashi returned, holding out his hand for Hera to take, which she did. 

“Ezra! Time to go sweetie!” Hera called. 

“But mom!” Ezra shouted, running over to her with Hiro trailing behind. “We were having fun!” 

“Sorry sweetie but we need to go. I have a way to call Hiro’s brother so you two can play together sometime if Hiro wants to okay?”

“Awesome!” Ezra exclaimed. 

“Could we Dashi?” Hiro tentatively asked. 

“Any time buddy,” Tadashi assured, ruffling Hiro’s hair. 

“Come on now, say goodbye to Hiro.” Hera said. 

“Bye!” Ezra said, hugging Hiro. Hiro froze momentarily but awkwardly wrapped his arms around Ezra. 

“Bye…” Hiro mumbled waving. Hera took Ezra’s hand and started walking away, Ezra turning awkwardly to continue waving at Hiro until they were out of site. 

“Looks like you made a friend,” Tadashi said, taking Hiro’s hand and starting to walk back to the mansion. 

“I like him…” Hiro mumbled. “You meant it when you said we could play again right?”

“Of course buddy!” Tadashi exclaimed. Hiro’s eyes lit up excitedly and he spent most of the walk home talking about Ezra and everything they did in great detail. Tadashi already knew for the most part what they did but listened to Hiro as he talked anyways. It was just so nice to see Hiro getting close to someone his age. 

\-----

Once they got back to the mansion, Hiro excitedly ran up into the playroom where their partially reconstructed Lego City was. When they went inside, Fred was already in their playing a video game. 

“Oh!” Hiro exclaimed, running over to where Fred was. “Can I play?”

“Uh, probably best that you don’t,” Fred said, quickly turning off the game. Tadashi glanced at the cover and noticed the ‘M’ rating for the game and quickly said,

“Come on Hiro, Lego is way more fun!” 

“But that game looks awesome!” Hiro whined. 

“I don’t think you’ll like it buddy,” Tadashi said, sitting down by the Lego city, “besides our Lego citizens need our help after the devastation caused by the monster brothers!” 

“But the governor was supposed to start rebuilding? Why didn’t he?” Hiro gasped.

“Because he was an evil corrupt man using the situation to steal millions of dollars from the citizens!” Fred exclaimed, diving down next to Hiro. “Thankfully the construction man found out about what he was doing and brought him to justice!”

“Awesome!” Hiro exclaimed. “But now we must rebuild to save the Lego citizens!” 

“This time with a superhero base,” Tadashi added, grinning. 

“Yes!” Hiro exclaimed. 

“Maybe we should plan out everything we’re going to add,” Fred said. 

“Hamada Bro’s Inc. needs to be rebuilt!” Hiro exclaimed. “And everyone’s homes! And the supermarket! Oh maybe we should build a nerd school!” 

Tadashi chuckled and agreed, “Oh yea, a nerd school is a must!” 

“There also needs to be a comic book store!” Fred added. 

“Of just a book store,” Tadashi suggested. 

“Or both,” Fred said, smirking causing Tadashi to roll his eyes, laughing. As they get to work building, Tadashi marveled at being able to spend time with the two men he loved most. Thinking back on it, Tadashi felt bad for neglecting them so much these past few weeks, well not anymore. Tadashi vowed that from now on he’d give them the attention they deserved. With that thought firmly in mind, he joined Fred and Hiro in rebuilding the magnificent Lego city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I may or may not be addicted to Star Wars Rebels at the moment...anyways hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanted to say a few things before we get into the chapter, the first being yes I am a Christian but I do believe it is very wrong to persecute people because of their sexuality. That being said, I know a lot of people distrust the church and so I felt like I should say this chapter does involve going to church and the sermon is briefly talked about though no very in depth. I hope people will be willing to read through the section but I understand some people might want to skip over so I felt like I should warn people. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

Fred anxiously paced his room as he got ready on Sunday morning. What should he wear to Tadashi’s church? The one he used to go to was very formal, the men wore suits and the woman wore nice dresses, but he’d also seen churches where everyone wore jeans and flip flops. A part of Fred wanted to ask Tadashi, but another was afraid of getting laughed at. It was stupid, how did he not know what to wear to church! 

“Almost ready Fred?” Tadashi asked, knocking on the door. 

“Almost!” Fred called.

“We need to leave soon so hurry up!” Tadashi called. Groaning, Fred decided to go with the fancier route and pulled on his dress pants, button up shirt and jacket and carefully combed his hair before slipping on a pair of dress shoes

“I’m ready to go!” Fred declared, stepping out of his room and freezing when he saw Tadashi who was dressed in regular pants a t-shirt, blazer and tennis shoes. The only thing Tadashi wasn’t wearing was his hat. 

“Uh Fred you look nice but are you going to a funeral or something?” Tadashi asked with a laugh. 

“I-uh….isn’t this what people wear to church?” Fred nervously asked.

“Uh I guess some but the one I go to is pretty casual,” Tadashi explained. 

“Oh um then I can go change-” Fred said, turning to go back into his room.

“No!’ Tadashi exclaimed, grabbing Fred’s arm. “I mean you look nice.” Blushing, Fred said,

“Oh um…thanks.”

“Let’s go,” Tadashi said, taking Fred’s hand. 

\-----

Fred was a bundle of nerves as Heathcliff drove them to Tadashi’s church, bouncing his leg nervously beside Tadashi. Sensing his nerves, Tadashi laid his hand on top of Fred’s bouncing leg and whispered,

“It’s okay, you don’t need to be nervous.”

“I’m not nervous!” Fred exclaimed. “No why would I be? I’m only heading back to the place that chased me out after…after…” Fred trailed off. Tadashi didn’t know exactly why he got chased out, just that he did. 

“After you came out?” Tadashi asked. 

“Something like that…” Fred muttered. 

“What?” Tadashi asked as they pulled up to the church. 

“Later…” Fred mumbled, pushing the door open and stepping out. 

“Will you be joining us Heathcliff?” Tadashi asked as he unbuckled Hiro. 

“I was not sure if I would be welcome to join you,” Heathcliff informed them, momentarily looking surprised by the question before forcing his face to become neutral again. 

“Of course,” Tadashi said, grinning. “Why wouldn’t you be?” Heathcliff didn’t answer so Tadashi said,

“Well I’m going to go and take Hiro over to the kids room you two ca-”

“I’ll go with!” Fred cried, not wanting to get to far away from Tadashi. 

“If you would like I can hold seats for you,” Heathcliff offered.

“That would be fantastic thanks!” Tadashi exclaimed, beaming at Heathcliff. Heathcliff nodded with a small smile and walked into the building while Tadashi led Fred and Hiro over to the kids’ room. As Fred walked through the church, he started to feel ridiculous next to everyone who was dressed so casually. He should have insisted on changing. At least he didn’t have a tie on; maybe he could ditch the coat and roll of the sleeves of his shirt or something to dress down a bit. 

Thankfully everyone seemed too excited by Tadashi’s presence to notice Fred’s attire. Fred tried to figure out why their where so many people with nametags standing around. All they seemed to do was say hi and talk to people. Regardless of what they did, they all seemed to know Tadashi and would stop what they were doing to say hello. None of them said anything to Fred, something he didn’t really mind at all. 

The line to check Hiro into the kids’ area thankfully wasn’t that long, but they were stuck in front of an elderly woman who seemed to know Tadashi fairly well. Fred could tell though that she was upsetting Tadashi but he couldn’t do much about it. 

“Sorry I couldn’t make it to the funeral,” she was saying for the fifth time since she got in line behind them. “I just got so terribly busy and all that. You know how it is.”

“Yea…” Tadashi said, stiffly nodding his head and leaning down to hold Hiro. Hiro started nuzzling his brother, sensing how upset his brother was. How many times did she need to bring up the damn funeral? Who does that? 

“Who’s this? A friend of yours?” The woman asked, finally noticing Fred. 

“Uh…well I’m Fred…” Fred awkwardly introduced, uncertain as to what he should say he was. Was it appropriate for him to call himself Tadashi’s boyfriend? Would that cause problems? Did they even know Tadashi was gay?

“He’s my boyfriend,” Tadashi coldly said causing the woman to gasp in horror,

“Boyfriend?” Catching the attention of everyone waiting. “That’s disgusting! You’ll go to hell for this!” Fred winced, waiting for the onslaught of attacks from everyone standing around them, but to his surprise a woman standing in line in behind them snapped,

“That is rude! We are at church! We should be accepting of one another, not condemning anyone to Hell!” 

“These two disgusting fag-” The old woman began but the other woman exclaimed,

“Don’t you dare say that word!” 

One of the teenagers helping check in snapped, “Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to not use that kind of language. There are young children down here including your grandson.” The woman huffed in disgust and refused to speak to them. Tadashi seemed more relieved than upset by this however. 

Thankfully since two people were working the line Tadashi was soon setting Hiro down and sending him off. Before Hiro ran inside he whispered,

“You okay Dashi?” 

“Yea buddy,” Tadashi assured, kneeling down and ruffling his hair. “Go have fun okay?” 

“Okay…” Hiro tentatively mumbled, kissing Tadashi’s cheek and running into the room. Tadashi tiredly stood up and groaned,

“Let’s go sit.” He looked so drained already. 

“Excuse me, Tadashi?” a middle aged woman asked.

“Yea…” Tadashi grumbled, looking like he was mentally preparing himself for another attack. 

“I’m so sorry that cranky woman said that stuff,” she said. “That was wrong and…we should be loving everyone, not hating. You two aren’t doing anything wrong and I think your boyfriend is adorable.” Smiling Tadashi said,

“Thank you, that means a lot. Fred kind of got chased out of his last church and that was not what I wanted him to see…”

“What a b-at…” The woman said. Fred had a funny feeling she was going to say something else but chose not to comment. “I think it’s adorable that your boyfriend dressed up so nicely for church,” The woman continued, smiling at Fred. “He’s a real cutie.”

“Yea, I got really lucky with him,” Tadashi admitted, flashing Fred a smile that could thaw ice. 

Fred blushed and mumbled, “I-uh…thanks. My old church dressed up fancy and I-uh didn’t realize that wasn’t normal…”

“Well I think you look spiffy,” the woman informed him. “You match one of the greeters Larry!”

“Who?” Fred asked. 

“Larry, he’s been with the church for a long time and he wears a suit and tie every week,” Tadashi explained. 

“I’m going to head over to listen to the sermon but I just wanted to say I really hope that woman didn’t scare you two away…”

“No,” Tadashi assured. “Well, not me at least…”

“I’d like to give the actual pastor a chance before leaving,” Fred said, causing both the woman and Tadashi to start grinning. “So umm, shall we?”

“Oh yea let’s,” Tadashi said, taking Fred’s hand and walking back towards the main sanctuary. As they walked they received a few dirty looks but for the most part people just waved at Tadashi and continued on minding their own business. 

Once in the main building, Fred tried not to gape at how large the room was. The seats where almost identical to movie theater seats as opposed to the bench like seats at his old church, and their where four sections of seats facing a stage that stretched across the entire room. 

“Come on I think I see Heathcliff,” Tadashi informed Fred, walking down the middle aisle About halfway down Tadashi slid into the row followed closely by Fred. The pair only had time to quickly wave at Heathcliff before people started walking onto the stage. Rather than everyone sit down, those who were already sitting stood up. 

“Worship,” Tadashi whispered to Fred as a man carrying a guitar walked onto the stage followed by several other singers. 

“I thought that usually involved a full choir…not a band…” Fred whispered as they started playing. 

“Yea…some churches do that and it’s not a bad thing, we just don’t do that,” Tadashi explained with a laugh before turning his attention back to the stage. Fred didn’t know any of the songs they were singing and he felt a little strange watching the band worship. Everyone was really getting into the music, holding their hands in the air or swaying to the beat of the music. Fred wasn’t sure what to do, so he focused on Tadashi’s voice, he had the best voice Fred had ever heard and wished he would sing more. 

The singing lasted for an uncomfortably long time for Fred, and he was relieved when they were asked to sit as the offering was collected. Fred didn’t know much about offering besides the fact that it was used to help fund the church so when the basket was passed to him he dropped a twenty in it causing Tadashi to beam as he threw in a couple of bills. 

After that the pastor, a surprisingly young man probably no older than thirty with blond hair and brown eyes, climbed onto the stage and prayed before saying,

“Hello, I’m Pastor Whitmore, first off I would like to say welcome to any new guests who are here today. Now, will you turn with me to Psalm 1…” Fred tried to focus on Pastor Whitmore’s words, but he could feel the old woman from earlier glare on the back of Fred’s neck. Fred cautiously looked over at Tadashi who looked relaxed and was smiling as the pastor spoke. It was a surprising change from even minutes ago when Tadashi tensely walked through the halls of the church, ducking his head to avoid some of the glares he received. How could he be so relaxed when their where people who were so mean?

“Look at verses three and four with me, ‘He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.   
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away’ Now according to the text, a follower of Christ will prosper in anything they do…” He was saying. Well that’s a lie… Fred darkly thought. Tadashi’s a Christian and look at what all’s happened to him! How could he stand up there and say that? Fred glanced over at Tadashi once more he was intensely taking down notes. 

“Let’s look back at Psalm 73 verse 12 ‘This is what the wicked are like-- always carefree, they increase in wealth.’ In this verse, Asaph is being very honest with God…” Yea the he gets it. Fred thought. One of the many things that always bothered him was how bad people got away with doing bad things and good people only seemed to get hurt. How was that fair, why did God let that happen? 

Fred chanced another glance at Tadashi who was earnestly nodding his head, a look of deep concentration on his face. How was he following all of this? How was he staying focused with people glaring at him…Fred was also at the slight disadvantage of having a gorgeous man sitting right next to him who seemed to look adorable no matter what he was doing. Fred wasn’t sure how long he spent staring at Tadashi, but at one point Tadashi glanced over at Fred who started blushing when he finally noticed Tadashi looking at him and quickly turned his attention back to the stage just as Whitmore was saying,

“Now whether or not Psalm one is telling us the truth depends on how you define prosperous. If you define it as wealth in this life then no, Psalm one is not. But looking at Eternity it is…” Eternity? How could people continue to worship God if he let his people suffer while on Earth? Why even put them here if he supposedly loved them like Fred was always told? Fred glanced over at Tadashi again whose head was bowed, eyes shut. Fred tentatively looked around and realized Pastor Whitmore was praying. How had he missed the whole sermon? Soon everyone was standing so Fred awkwardly followed suit as Tadashi asked,

“So what did you think?” He looked so hopeful. Could Fred lie to him and say it was just okay or did he just tell him he didn’t hear most of it? Fred was saved from answering by Pastor Whitmore walking up to them saying,

“Tadashi! It’s so good to see you! How have you been?” 

“I’m good,” Tadashi said with a smile. 

“I’ve heard people talking saying you brought your boyfriend here today,” he continued, ”Is that true?”

“Yea…” Tadashi sheepishly admitted, “This is Fred. He us used to go to church until they found out he was Bisexual and they kind of chased him out…”

“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Pastor Whitmore said, turning his attention to Fred. “It’s not right to chase God’s children away simply because we think they’ve sinned. I hope you both know God loves you both very much and that you both are more than welcome at my church.”

“Thank you,” Tadashi thanked, “That means a lot.”

“I hope to see you boys next week.”

“Don’t worry I’ll be here,” Tadashi assured, turning his attention to Fred with a hopeful smile on his boyfriends face. Why did he have to look like a puppy when he did that?

“Me too…” Fred said before he could stop himself. 

“Wonderful!” He exclaimed. “Well then see you next week!” 

“Let’s get Hiro an-”

“I have Hiro,” Heathcliff declared, walking up to the pair with Hiro walking beside him.

“Hey Dashi!” Hiro exclaimed. Fred wasn’t sure when Heathcliff went to get him, but was eternally grateful for him getting Hiro so quickly. 

“Well then I guess we can go,” Tadashi said, grinning. Fred was partially relieved but also felt guilty. He basically lied to Tadashi about liking something and it didn’t sit right with him at all. He didn’t dislike it but… he hadn’t followed along at all. He knew he needed to talk to Tadashi, but he didn’t know how….much sooner than Fred would have liked, they pulled up to the mansion and the four of them walked inside, Heathcliff going off to take care of….whatever he did when not attending to Fred while Tadashi turned to Hiro saying,

“Can you please head upstairs to our room and play in their?”

“Okay!” Hiro said, happily running up the stairs. Once it was just the two of them Tadashi asked,

“Hey Fred? I uh…I didn’t want to say anything while we were their but…you didn’t like the church very much did you?” Tadashi couldn’t look at him when he said this and Fred felt his heart freeze. Great, he’d noticed.

“It’s not that I didn’t like it!” Fred exclaimed. “I-I…honestly I kept losing focus…I just got really lost…” 

“I’d be happy to answer any questions,” Tadashi shouted, blushing and adding in a calmer voice, “If uh….if you’d like.” Fred stared at Tadashi in shock. He was willing to work with Fred and help him with all of this? He didn’t hate Fred for not understanding? But….he wasn’t sure how he felt about all of this. Did he really belong in the church anymore or was he just going along to make Tadashi happy?

“Tadashi I…I appreciate the offer I just… I don’t know…”

“Do you even want to go back again?”

“I…maybe...can we maybe talk again later this week? I just….this was a lot and I’d just like to…think maybe do something fun or something….”

“Sure,” Tadashi said with a warm smile. “Wanna go play some video games or something?”

“That would be awesome actually,” Fred agreed, grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and if not I am very sorry and hope you'll still enjoy the fic. I know people may hate that I wrote a chapter like this but I felt it was something that should be talked about some. If you have any questions about the church, the chapter or anything in general feel free to review/PM me. Have a great Labor Day everyone!!!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys not going to lie I am not in love with this chapter but I realize it's needed so I hope you enjoy it :D

In retrospect, Tadashi should have seen this coming. He hadn’t called or spoken to any of his friends in two weeks, they were bound to get worried about him. He hadn’t expected to find twenty messages from his friends Monday morning though. They seemed pretty worried, so Tadashi sent a group text out seeing if they could meet up in the afternoon to hang out. All of them agreed. Heathcliff even offered to keep an eye on Hiro so they could hang out and not worry about anything. Tadashi had protested, but Heathcliff insisted saying that Hiro was always well behaved and very easy to watch so Tadashi relented and he and Fred took Tadashi’s moped to meet them up. 

They were the first to arrive at the café, so they awkwardly sat down to wait. Initially Tadashi wanted to go to the Lucky Cat Café but decided against it, he didn’t want to overwhelm his aunt with so many new people at once. Tadashi had no idea what he was going to say to his friend when they arrived, he just knew they needed to know what was going on. 

“Hey Tadashi!” Honey Lemon exclaimed when she walked into the café and ran over to them, throwing her arms around him. 

“Hey Honey Lemon…” Tadashi greeted, slightly confused but hugging her back none the less. 

“How are you doing?” Honey Lemon asked, giving him a warm smile.

“I’m good…” Tadashi slowly said, getting even more confused. Before he could ask, Gogo walked in saying,

“Hey guys! Tadashi…how have you been holding up?” Gogo also was giving him a compassionate smile, placing a hand on his arm. 

“I’m doing pretty good…is there a reason I shouldn’t be?” Tadashi asked, looking over at Fred in confusion who looked just as lost as Tadashi.

“It’s okay Tadashi you don’t have to pretend to be okay,” Honey Lemon assured, “We’re here for you.”

“What are you talking about?” Tadashi asked as Wasabi walked in and wordlessly hugged Tadashi. “Seriously guys…” Tadashi groaned.

“We just wanted to make sure you where okay since…Hiro…” Wasabi explained.

“Since Hiro? Why….oh…guys oh man I’m sorry I never told you I found a job!” Tadashi informed them, a wide grin on his face.

“Really!” Honey Lemon squealed, throwing his arms around Tadashi once more. 

“I thought you guys realized I mean he was with me during the funeral,” Tadashi said, awkwardly laughing.

“Well…Mr. Bubbles was watching you guys closely so we just assumed he was letting you be with Hiro for the funeral since last we heard you hadn’t found any work and the house was being sold…” 

“Oh…” Tadashi mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry about that…”

“It’s okay, you were probably pretty busy,” Honey Lemon assured. 

“So where are you working? And where are you guys living?” Gogo asked making Tadashi stiffen. Honey Lemon reluctantly let go of him and stepped back, looking concerned. What did he tell them? What could he tell them? It was Fred’s house so he should decide when their friends new he was loaded. On the other hand if he didn’t answer…

“Dashi it’s okay,” Fred assured.

“Fred…”

“We can tell them,” Fred firmly said.

“What is he talking about?” Wasabi asked, looking concerned. 

“Umm….well…” Tadashi began, unsure how to say this.

“He works for my dad and is living with me,” Fred declared.

“Working for your dad?” Gogo slowly asked, sounding skeptical. 

“I am,” Tadashi confirmed. 

“I can show you where I live,” Fred added. 

“Fred ar-”

“I’m sure,” Fred said, looking pointedly at Tadashi. “They won’t believe it until they see it so let’s go.” And with that Fred strode out of the café, a determined look on his face. Tadashi helplessly shrugged as he followed Fred out and walked over to his moped, Fred standing over by Wasabi’s car.

“I’ll meet you guys their?” Tadashi asked as Fred silently climbed into the front seat of Wasabi’s car. Wasabi sent Tadashi an awkward wave before climbing into the front seat with Honey Lemon and Gogo climbing into the back. For most of the trip Wasabi was right behind Tadashi’s moped and he arrived just seconds before the others. When they climbed out of Wasabi’s car Honey Lemon gasped,

“No way…” when she took in the sheer magnitude of the mansion. Tadashi smirked slightly as he looked over their astonished faces. He remembered the first time he saw Fred’s mansion.

“No, just no way!” Gogo snapped, shaking her head. “If this is a joke it is not funny!’ Fred ignored her though and walked to the front door.

“Fred! Where are you going?” Wasabi asked. 

“I told you guys this is my house,” Fred said stepping onto the porch as Heathcliff opened the door.

“Welcome home Master Fredrick,” Heathcliff greeted. 

“Hey Heathcliff!” Fred greeted. Hiro poked his head out and exclaimed,

“Dashi!” And rushed out to greet him. Grinning, Tadashi scooped Hiro up into his arms saying,

“Hey how’s my little man?” 

“Good!” Hiro assured. “And I promise I was a good boy!”

“Did he really behave?” Tadashi asked with a small smile.

“For the thirty minutes you were gone,” Heathcliff said with a small smile. 

“Good,” Tadashi said, stepping inside followed closely by the others.

“Wait…so you live here?” Gogo asked in disbelief. 

“Which one?” Fred asked, smirking at them. 

“Both of you?” Gogo asked. 

“Well this is my parents’ house,” Fred exclaimed, he looked relieved to finally share this with their friends; Tadashi couldn’t fathom how he managed to go so long without telling them everything. 

“And technically I just work here,” Tadashi sheepishly explained. 

“How exactly do you work here?” Gogo asked.

“I do repairs,” Tadashi explained. “You know plumbing, cars, electric stuff, fixing paint damaged by eggings.”

“Eggings?” Wasabi asked.

“The house has gotten egged twice in the past few weeks. For some reason though Heathcliff isn’t concerned at all,” Tadashi explained, frowning. “Why is that?”

“Wish I knew,” Fred admitted, shrugging. “Like you said, Heathcliff and my dad don’t seem to care, when I asked they just mentioned something about an ex friend of Mr. Robinson…”

“Robinson….”Tadashi muttered, shifting Hiro in his arms. “He’s an inventor right?”

“Yea, pretty good one I hear,” Gogo agreed. 

“Wait so social services is really okay with you kind of working for your boyfriend and living with him?” Wasabi asked, amazed. 

“Initially they weren’t,” Tadashi admitted. “But Fred’s dad showed the social worker something that…well he was surprised, then annoyed, and then said he’d check back in two weeks. He did and everything checked out for now.”

“This is very strange,” Wasabi muttered, looking around the mansion.

“You’re telling me…” Tadashi sighed, setting Hiro down. 

“It’s not bad though is it?” Fred sheepishly asked.

“Not bad. I just never would have guessed this all would have happened,” Tadashi admitted. 

“I like it!” Hiro happily exclaimed. 

“Do you now?” Tadashi asked a warm smile on his face. Tadashi was so proud of Hiro; he was being so brave through all of this and seemed to be always looking for the bright side in it all. 

“Yea! We get to stay in a cool house and Heathcliff is an awesome babysitter!” Hiro declared. 

“Better than me?” Fred asked, pouting. 

“No…but who knows how long it would have taken to meet you if I didn’t live here,” Hiro declared, making Fred laugh,

“Good point little man!” Tadashi couldn’t help but smile as he watched Fred and Hiro animatedly talk to each other, Fred kneeling down so he was at Hiro’s height. Fred somehow broke through the wall Hiro put around himself and brought out the excited little boy only Tadashi could usually see and was reminded again of how much he loved Fred. He honestly couldn’t imagine spending his life with anyone but him. 

Tadashi was startled out of his thoughts when he felt Gogo sharply elbow his side and say, “Earth to Tadashi. Anyone there?”

“Sorry…” Tadashi sheepishly mumbled, though he didn’t really feel all that apologetic. He loved Fred, why should he feel ashamed for showing it? The thought almost made Tadashi pause again. It was almost strange thinking about loving someone. It was a word he’d tossed around at times without thinking about the significance off what he was saying. When they first started saying they loved each other they were still just friends and meant something much different then what it did now. When they started dating the words where still said to each other thoughtlessly. No their love wasn’t better than before, but it was different now. Thinking about it though, he had no doubt in his mind that they loved each other in a way that he knew they couldn’t love anyone else. 

“You two are going to give me cavities,” Gogo teasingly said. Tadashi merely shrugged as Fred straightened and said,

“Well why don’t we all get some food?” Resulting in a chorus of agreements and Hiro excitedly leading everyone to the kitchen. Fred hung back for a moment to take Tadashi’s hand in his own and whisper,

“I love you,” with powerful conviction. Tadashi let out a joy filled laugh and kissed Fred whispering,

“I love you too.”


	17. Chapter 17

When Tadashi agreed to become Hiro’s guardian, he hadn’t realized how many forms he had to fill out to do this. The forms seemed endless, but as far as Tadashi was concerned it was worth it. He would do anything to keep Hiro, and it very quickly paid off. Three weeks after the funeral he got a ninety day notice for his court hearing. If everything went well, in three months he would officially be Hiro’s guardian. 

Fred was just as ecstatic as Tadashi was, when Tadashi told him he finally got a court date he tackled Tadashi to the ground. Though Hiro didn’t understand everything, he knew enough to realize this was a very good thing for them and was just as happy. Fred tentatively pointed out that now might be a good time to start looking into getting a car, him driving a moped might get some frowns and Tadashi reluctantly agreed. 

Thankfully he had the insurance money for the car to help him and a decent knowledge of cars. After visiting countless dealerships Tadashi was finally able to find a used car that was in pretty good condition for a price Tadashi could afford. He finally had a car so he could drive Hiro places without having to borrow a car. 

Over the next several weeks, Tadashi or Fred would take Hiro to the park to play with Ezra, something Hiro looked forward to immensely. The two of them where quickly becoming inseparable and Tadashi was both extremely happy for Hiro and slightly worried for him. Hiro having a friend was a really good thing, but Hiro seemed almost clingy with him and Tadashi wasn’t sure if that was healthy. Hera didn’t seem too worried about it, though. She usually was the one to bring Ezra and they talked most of the time while the boys played. 

One Saturday, Tadashi had been surprised to see a man bringing Ezra to the park and assumed that he was Hera’s husband Kanan. The moment Ezra spotted Hiro he raced away from his father and excitedly threw his arms around Hiro before running off to play. As Tadashi sat down in the shade, he noticed Kanan staring at the two boys as they played a look of deep concentration on his face. 

“You’re Tadashi right?” Kanan asked, startling Tadashi.

“Yes,” Tadashi said, “You’re Kanan right?”

Kanan nodded and asked, “Hamada?” Tadashi stared at him in confusion before saying,

“Um yes…” Had he told Hera his last name? He honestly couldn’t remember. Kanan heavily sat down next to Tadashi and said,

“Officer Jarrus ring a bell?” 

“Jarrus…” Tadashi muttered. The name sounded familiar. Where had it heard….the night of the crash. “The officer who called…was that…you?” 

“Yes,” Kanan admitted, not looking Tadashi in the eye. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save them.” 

“I know they died before anyone got their…” Tadashi mumbled. 

“That doesn’t make it any easier…” Kanan said, frowning. 

“No, it doesn’t,” Tadashi agreed. A dark part of Tadashi wanted to hate Kanan for not saving his parents, but another wanted to thank him over and over for saving Hiro’s life. “You saved Hiro…”

“I pulled him out of the car,” Kanan agreed. 

“Thank you,” Tadashi said. “I…I lost the will to live when I thought I lost my entire family…having Hiro….it gives me something to hold onto. A reason to keep going.” 

“I’m…glad to hear that,” Kanan said after a few minutes of silence. “I mean not the loss of will but…Hiro helping you…” Tadashi smiled at just as a fuzzy voice started talking. Kanan frowned and pulled out a device and listened to the voice for a minute before standing up and calling

“Ezra come on time to go!” 

“But dad we just got here!” Ezra whined. 

“Somethings come up we need to go!” Kanan snapped. Erza sighed but said,

“Okay dad. Bye Hiro!” And hugged Hiro who excitedly hugged him back. “See you later!”

“See you!” Hiro said, waving at Ezra as he raced back over to his father.

“Sorry it’s some sort of emergency I gotta run.” Kanan explained.

“It’s all right, I completely understand.” Tadashi assured. Kanan nodded and hurried off, Ezra hurrying behind him. 

Hiro ran back over to where Tadashi was and asked, “Can we stay here and play?”

“If you’d like,” Tadashi said with a grin. Hiro cheered and ran over to the swing saying,

“Push me!” Grinning, Tadashi stood and started pushing him. This was nice, just him and Hiro goofing around and enjoying themselves. He loved Fred to death, but having some alone time with Hiro was really good too. Tadashi was determined to do this more with Hiro because he deserved some time with his brother.

\------

The summer passed by in a blur for Tadashi, he was either working, with Hiro or Fred, or sleeping. Fred somewhat reluctantly agreed to go to church with Tadashi occasionally. It wasn’t every week but Tadashi was grateful he was giving it a chance. Unfortunately as the summer progressed, Mary and Amelia’s opinion of Tadashi only seemed to worsen. As far as they were concerned Tadashi never worked as hard as they did and was only here for sex. Tadashi wanted to say something, but he was afraid that he would only make it worse. So Tadashi simply avoided them whenever possible and forced himself to try and work even harder. They would eventually see reason…right?

Before he knew it, summer was over and he was registering Hiro to go to school. Hiro was ecstatic to be going to school, but Tadashi was worried Hiro would soon hate it. Tadashi had been massively bullied as a kid, and he was worried Hiro would suffer the same fate. Fred kept telling him though that even if he did get bullies it might actually work out for the best. Fred did have a point, if it weren’t for bullies they would have never met. 

Sooner than Tadashi would have liked, the first day of school for both of them rolls around. Thankfully his first class doesn’t start until 10 so he has time to drop Hiro off before heading over. Hiro had spent the morning talking nonstop about how excited he was for school, as they pull up to the building though he Hiro stopped talking and stared at the building nervously. 

“You okay buddy?” Tadashi asked. 

“…I’m scared…” Hiro admitted. 

“Hey you’ll be fine,” Tadashi assured unbuckling Hiro and setting him down. 

“You sure…” Hiro asked, hiding behind Tadashi’s leg as they walked. 

“I met Fred in school,” Tadashi said, smiling. 

“You did?” Hiro asked. 

“Yea, besides, you already have a friend so you’re way better off than I was,” Tadashi continued. 

“You didn’t have a friend when you started school?” Hiro curiously asked. 

“No,” Tadashi admitted, leading Hiro through the building towards Hiro’s classroom. “I didn’t make a friend for a few years actually…” Tadashi frowned slightly think to his first few years of school. “Fred was my first friend…” He shook the thought out of his head and asked, “Ready to go in?”

“Yea,” Hiro agreed, smiling up at Tadashi as he opened the door for Hiro. Immediately Tadashi heard a shout of,

“Hiro!” Hiro excitedly looked around the room, grinning when he saw Ezra in his class. 

“See?” Tadashi laughed, kneeling down. “Now have fun okay?”

“Okay! See you later Dashi!” Hiro exclaimed, hugging Tadashi tightly before running to join Ezra. Tadashi smiled at Hiro and walked back out to his car to head to school. 

\----

When Tadashi got to school he found he had some extra time so he made his way to his lab to get settled in again. His project had been moved back into his lab for him, waiting to be worked on once more. 

“Sneak attack!” Fred shouted, tackle hugging Tadashi from behind. 

“Fred!” Tadashi exclaimed, laughing. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”

“No class today silly,” Fred said, burying his face in Tadashi’s back. 

“That’s nice but I do have class soon,” Tadashi said, smiling. 

“Not anymore!” Fred declared, tightly hugging Tadashi.

“Mr. Lee, why does Mr. Hamada not have class anymore?” Professor Callaghan asked, slipping into Tadashi’s lab.

“Uh….” Fred awkwardly said, letting go of Tadashi. “No reason…I’ll just umm….yea see you Tadashi.” Fred said before slipping out of the lab.

“Thanks professor,” Tadashi said.

“No problem Mr. Hamada. But I only came in here to see how you were doing.” Professor Callaghan admitted. 

“Oh…” Tadashi said. “Well…I-It hasn’t been easy but I have a court hearing next month to see if I can become Hiro’s legal guardian!” 

“Oh….you’re trying to be his guardian…” Professor Callaghan said, looking surprised. 

“Is there a problem?” Tadashi asked, concerned by the look on his professor’s face. 

“Tadashi you’re one of the best students I’ve ever had. You are brilliant, I’m just wondering if you’re ready to raise a child.” He admitted, surprising Tadashi.

“I-I don’t understand,” Tadashi said. “Hiro’s my brother. I can’t lose him!” 

“Family is very important,” Professor Callaghan agreed. “But raising a child demands a lot of time and I’m wondering if you can balance school, work, and raising your brother…” 

“I will find a way to make it work!” Tadashi declared. “And if I just can’t then I’ll drop out of school.”

“You’d abandon your dream?” Professor Callaghan asked, looking horrified. 

“Hiro’s more important,” Tadashi said, shrugging. 

“More important than finishing school?” He asked. 

“Yes,” Tadashi said with conviction. He loved the school and loved robotics. In a perfect world he’d get his degree, finish Baymax and continue his work in revolutionizing the medical field. But this wasn’t a perfect world and Hiro came first. Always. 

“Well I’m disappointed.” Professor Callaghan sighed. “I’d hate to see one of my brightest students throw away his future.”

“I hate that it’s come to this, but I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my brother,” Tadashi declared. 

Professor Callaghan looked at Tadashi sadly before sighing, “I’m sorry to hear that…” before started to leave.

“I’m not leaving yet!” Tadashi exclaimed, making Professor Callaghan freeze. “I mean either way I’ll finish out this semester. I’ll decide if I’m staying or not over the winter break.” 

“Well then. I guess I’ll just have to do everything I can to convince you to stay,” Professor Callaghan declared before exiting the lab, leaving Tadashi with an uneasy feeling in his chest.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far!!!

Tadashi had hoped Hiro would make more friends once he started school, but it seemed Hiro and Ezra only talked to each other. He knew he shouldn’t worry, they hadn’t been in school all that long, but it was hard not to. At least Hiro had someone unlike him when he was in school. Though he was worried about the amount of time Hiro was spending with Ezra, he was more worried about how he was becoming less outgoing. 

After moving into the mansion, Hiro had been slowly warming up to Fred and Heathcliff and getting more comfortable talking to strangers, ever since he started school though he started getting nervous again when with people he didn’t know. Tadashi knew he should be more concerned, but all his energy was spent bouncing between school and work. On days he had school he would drop Hiro off for school, head to school for his first two classes, go pick Hiro up then head back to school for an evening class before heading back to the mansion to work on homework or work around the house. It was only a month into the school year and Tadashi was already exhausted. 

Though Tadashi struggled to balance everything out, Hiro excelled in his classes. Hiro’s teachers even talked about having him skip a grade or two. Hiro was smart, probably even smarter than Tadashi was and his ease of doing his schoolwork showed that. Hiro’s teacher and the school insisted that Hiro skip at least one grade. As they drove back to the mansion, Tadashi could tell Hiro was nervous, thought about what Tadashi had no idea. Once they arrived, Tadashi led Hiro up to their shared room. 

“Hiro I’m really proud of how well you’ve been doing in your classes,” Tadashi said once they were in their room. 

“Really?” Hiro asked, looking hopeful and scared. Of what Tadashi wasn’t entirely sure. 

“Yea and your teachers too. They want to have you skip a grade so you can do work that will be a little challenging for you. Isn’t that exciting?” 

“Will Ezra move with me?” Hiro asked making Tadashi’s heart sink a little. 

“Well…no. He’ll be moving up normally,” Tadashi explained. 

“Then I don’t want to skip a grade!” Hiro declared, crossing his arms. 

“Hiro, skipping grades will be good for you!” Tadashi exclaimed. He really thought Hiro would be happy about this. 

“I want to stay with Ezra though!” Hiro exclaimed. “He’s my friend!”

“You can make other friends though,” Tadashi countered. “If you’d try talking to the other kids I’m sure they’d lo-”

“Why do I have to skip?” Hiro demanded. 

“Hiro you’re not learning anything right now so they think you’d do better advancing to a higher grade,” Tadashi explained. “Aren’t you bored in your classes?”

“No…” Hiro said, but Tadashi knew he was lying. Hiro’s teachers told him about how Hiro never paid attention and usually was drawing or distracting Ezra in class. Though Hiro was able to do well in his class without paying attention, Ezra didn’t have that same luxury. 

“Hiro you can still be friends with Ezra, me and Fred are dating and we go to different schools!” Tadashi reasoned, but Hiro wasn’t having it. 

“Why can’t I stay in the same grade like all the normal kids!” Hiro shouted. Normal kids? What did he mean by that?

“You’re a really smart kid Hiro, the school wants to put you in a place where you can learn and want to pay attention in class,” Tadashi said, fighting back a groan. Tadashi pictured this conversation going a lot better. 

“I don’t need to though!” Hiro argued. 

“Hiro as long as you’re doing so well in your classes, the school will want to put you in a higher level and I agree,” Tadashi said. “We’re just trying to do what’s best for you and I want you to be in an environment where you can be interested in learning. Does that make sense?” Hiro glared at Tadashi before huffing,

“Yes.” And storming over to his bed and lying down in it facing away from Tadashi. Groaning, Tadashi collapsed into his own bed, praying that this would be the end of it.

\---

Unfortunately, Tadashi’s prayers where not answered. Two days later Tadashi got another call from Hiro’s teacher asking for him to come in for an emergency meeting. When Tadashi arrived Hiro was sitting out in the hallway with his teacher, Mrs. Mathews, waiting with him. 

“Mr. Hamada thank you for coming on such short notice.” 

“It’s no problem,” Tadashi assured. 

“Hiro, wait out here while I talk to your fa-”

“He’s my brother,” Hiro huffed. 

“I know I’m sorry,” Mrs. Mathews said, sounding genuinely apologetic. Hiro didn’t respond and refused to look at either of them as Mrs. Mathews ushered Tadashi into her classroom. 

“What’s wrong?” Tadashi asked once the door was shut. 

“Please have a seat,” She said, so Tadashi awkwardly leaned against one of the desks near the front, and Mrs. Mathews sat down behind her desk. “Is there anything going on at home that could affect Hiro’s schooling?” 

The question momentarily confused Tadashi. “Um…no not really…” Tadashi slowly said. “We talked about him skipping a grade and he was pretty upset about that…well he was upset about not being in the same class as Ezra and mentioned wanting to be ‘normal’.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Mrs. Mathews sighed, picking up a piece of paper and handing it to Tadashi. “This is the quiz Hiro took yesterday.” Confused, Tadashi glanced over the paper, shocked to find a large F written across the top. Tadashi scanned the paper, and to his surprise found that Hiro got every answer wrong. And the questions where for very basic addition and subtraction, he knew how to do that long before he got into school.

“Do you think he failed on purpose?” Tadashi asked. 

“I’m almost positive,” Mrs. Mathews said. “Hiro has gotten perfect scores on exams like this before and with how he’s been acting lately….”

“How has he been acting?” Tadashi asked in concern. 

Mrs. Mathews sighed and said, “Well…Hiro has been getting picked on lately…it hasn’t gotten physical yet but I am concerned.”

“You think Hiro would hit someone?” Tadashi asked, stunned. 

“No, but I think Ezra might,” Mrs. Mathews corrected. 

“Really?” Tadashi asked, surprised. 

“He’s already threatened violence against some of the children bullying Hiro,” She explained. “I’ve set up a meeting with his parents but I believe it’s probably why Hiro doesn’t want to leave. He’s clinging to his only friend. He won’t go near any of the other children, even those who were nice to Hiro before in fact the only student he lets near him is Ezra and now he won’t talk to anyone besides Hiro.” 

“That doesn’t sound healthy…” Tadashi said. 

“It’s not,” Mrs. Mathews sighed. “I believe that having Hiro skip a grade will be beneficial for them both. He needs to be in an environment where he can actually learn and not be afraid of ridicule, and maybe if Hiro is in a different class Ezra might actually pay attention as well.”

“How will skipping a grade help with teasing?” Tadashi asked. 

“I hope that if he’s surrounded by students learning the same things he is, he can fit in a little better.” The whole thing didn’t sit right with Tadashi, but who was he to argue with a teacher? 

“I do agree Hiro should be challenged at school,” Tadashi agreed. 

“Good,” Mrs. Mathews said. “I’ll bring Hiro inside and see if we can talk to him about all of this.” Tadashi nodded his head and Mrs. Mathews stood and walked over to the door to call Hiro in. He shuffled inside the room, refusing to look at Tadashi or Mrs. Mathews and sat down in the desk next to the one Tadashi was leaning against. Tadashi sat down in the chair and said,

“Hey Hiro…um…we need to talk…”

“I’m sorry I’m stupid,” Hiro said, shrugging. “I know you wanted me to skip a grade.” Tadashi wanted to yell and scream at Hiro but he realized that wouldn’t get him anywhere. So instead he decided to try a different approach.

“Hiro if you’re having so much trouble with such basic math we may have to hold you back a grade.” Tadashi informed Hiro. 

“What?” Hiro asked, looking completely shattered. Tadashi hated to do this to him, but he needed to get Hiro to understand this wasn’t the solution. 

“Yea, kids who can’t understand the subject get held back a year. So if you failed you also would not be in the same grade as Ezra.” Hiro sniffled and started to cry, making Tadashi’s heart clench. 

“Why can’t I be friends with Ezra?” Frowning, Tadashi slid off of the chair and kneeled down next to Hiro and asked, 

“Hey wait why do you think you can’t be friends with Ezra if you’re not in the same grade?”

“The other kids said that freaks like me get taken away and can’t ever see their friends and family again,” Hiro said, sniffling. Worried, Tadashi wrapped an arm around Hiro and whispered, 

“Listen to me buddy that’s not true. You will not get taken way. All that will happen is you’ll be in a different class room. I promise you can still be friends with Ezra and see him whenever you’d like okay?”

“Really?” Hiro asked, looking up at Tadashi hopefully. 

“I swear those kids lied through their teeth,” Tadashi assured. Hiro nodded and tried to wipe away his tears as Mrs. Mathew added,

“And sweetie, you won’t be moved until the end of the year okay? The school won’t let you be moved until then.” Hiro nodded, but he could tell Hiro wasn’t happy about this. 

“Is it okay if I take him home?” Tadashi asked. 

“Of course,” Mrs. Mathews assured. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” Tadashi nodded and picked Hiro up, carrying him back outside to the car. Tadashi hoped that by the time the jump had to happen Hiro would be more okay with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I adore this friendship okay? Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!


	19. Chapter 19

Tadashi knew it would be hard trying to balance working, school, and caring for Hiro, he hadn’t realized it would be this hard though. Many nights Tadashi found himself staying up until one or two am working on the house or homework. Fred had already found Tadashi fast asleep in his lab several times, making Tadashi start to wonder if he should just drop out of school. Fred and Professor Callaghan though firmly believed that Tadashi would figure out a balance and that he just needed to give it more time. Tadashi highly doubted more time would help him figure this out, but he did promise to wait until the end of the semester so he would. 

Even if he found a balance, Tadashi feared he wouldn’t be able to find nearly enough time in all the craziness to spend any time with Hiro. The few times he has managed to find time to spend with Hiro he drifted off to sleep very quickly. Though Hiro seemed to understand and didn’t get very upset, Tadashi was worried that Hiro was upset by this. If he wasn’t right now, Tadashi knew he would eventually.

Thankfully Hiro didn’t purposefully fail or do poorly on his schoolwork, but the bullying only seemed to get worse. Tadashi feared the bullying would drive Ezra away from Hiro, instead though it only seemed to bring him closer. According to Mrs. Mathews the more Hiro got bullied, the more Ezra refused to play with anyone but Hiro. A part of Tadashi hoped Ezra would remain his friend, but another was worried about how much time they were spending together. How could he get Hiro to play with anyone else though when all the other kids treated him so poorly?

Tadashi let out a loud yawn and tried to focus on what he was working on…if he could remember what he had been working on. Tadashi glanced down at his notes to try and figure out, which only served to confuse him more. On the page he’d been writing on their where notes on improvements for Baymax, several problems for his physics homework and ideas for a project for one of his robotics class. Tadashi leaned back in his chair, thinking maybe Heathcliff was right; he needed to be working less. But how could he? Ever since the school year started more things had been breaking that needed his immediate attention. 

Around three am that morning a pipe in the kitchen burst and for obvious reasons that could not wait. Tadashi couldn’t fathom why Mary was in the kitchen at three am, but at least she was there to spot it and get Tadashi so it could be fixed before the house flooded. As Tadashi worked on fixing it, he could have sworn he saw Heathcliff glaring at Mary. Why he would be angry at her for finding the flood was beyond Tadashi, or maybe he was just seeing things. 

Tadashi could hardly keep track of where he was supposed to be and when. On days when he had classes he had to run to his car and race over to pick up Hiro drop him off and then hurry back to school for his last class before heading back to the mansion for work and homework. It was rough; thankfully Professor Callaghan let Tadashi leave class early when needed without question which was a huge help. 

Tadashi let out a groan and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes with little success. Tadashi turned his attention back to his work and tried to riddle out what exactly he was supposed to be doing. Before he realized what was happening, Tadashi’s eyelids shut and he completely lost the willpower to try and open them for several minutes. 

It was so nice being able to just shut his eyes. The lab was quiet and Fred and Hiro were nowhere near him….Hiro. Tadashi’s eyes flew open and sat up, frantically looking for a clock and dove for his phone. Hiro would kill him if he was late picking him up from school….Tadashi sighed in relief and slumped over when he realized he didn’t have to get Hiro for another hour. The energy that had surged through Tadashi moments before quickly seeped out of him and Tadashi found himself slumping into his chair once more. 

How was he supposed to stay awake long enough to drive over and pick Hiro up and get him home safely? He could barely stay awake; it was quiet and dark in his lab. Maybe if he was in the much louder and brighter lab he’d be able to stay awake. With that thought firmly in mind, Tadashi shakily got to his feet, grabbed his notebook and stumbled into the lab. 

As he predicted the lab was bursting with activity as students worked throughout the lab on their various projects. Thankfully though Fred’s reclining chair was wide open. Generally though people tended to give the chair a wide birth, something about Fred not showing regularly so it probably stunk? Tadashi didn’t really care though and collapsed into the chair and opened his notebook to once again try and get some work done. 

Tadashi tried to stay awake, but his eyes kept drifting shut. Not even the noise could keep him awake. He must have been more exhausted then he thought. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if he took a quick power nap….with that thought Tadashi shut his eyes and let himself drift off to the land of dreams. 

\---

Fred excitedly bounced into the lab after a full day of mascotting. He couldn’t wait to sit back relax and just watch the students science….Fred frowned when he saw Tadashi passed out in his chair. Fred carefully moved closer, seeing the heavy bags under his eyes. Fred couldn’t recall the last time Tadashi had gotten a full nights rest. To many nights in a row Tadashi had to wake up in the middle of the night or had to pull an all nighter to get everything done. It was good he was sleeping, but looking over at the clock Fred realized Tadashi needed to have left to get Hiro fifteen minutes ago. Fred started to gently shake Tadashi, but he didn’t even stir. 

“He passed out their little over and hour ago and hasn’t moved since,” Gogo said. 

“Probably should let him sleep then…” Fred mumbled, carefully reaching over to raise the footrest, pausing to make sure Tadashi didn’t wake up before slowly reclining the chair so he was lying mostly flat. Fred froze when Tadashi stirred, afraid he’d woken Tadashi up, thankfully he only rolled to his side before drifting off to sleep again. Smiling, Fred pulled off Tadashi’s hat and gently pulled the notebook from his hands. 

“Isn’t Hiro out of school?” Wasabi asked, walking over to the group. 

“Yea, I can go get him though,” Fred whispered, gently running a hand through Tadashi’s hair. As he stood to leave he heard Tadashi’s phone go off in Tadashi’s pocket, the phone partially sticking out of his pocket. Fred gingerly lifted the phone out, frowning when he saw it was someone named ‘Hera’. The name seemed familiar but for the life of him Fred couldn’t remember why. So Fred answered the phone saying,

“Hello Tadashi’s phone Fred speaking.”

“Oh hi umm this is Hera. Is Tadashi unavailable?” Hera said.

“Umm kind of? He passed out and I can’t wake him up. He was up most of the night working on fixing an emergency pluming issue and is pretty exhausted.”

“Poor thing,” Hera sighed. “I was calling because I’m here at the school to pick up Ezra and found Hiro was still here.” Oh yea, Ezra’s mom. 

“Yea I just found him and was about to head over and grab him.” Fred said. 

“Or since I’m here I can take him over to my house and you or him get him later,” Hera suggested. 

“That would be awesome! A-are you sure you don’t mind?” Fred asked.

“Oh it’s not a problem!” Hera assured. 

“Thank you so much Hera, can you pass the phone to Hiro so I can tell him what’s going on?” Fred asked.

“Of course,” Hera said, “Hold on.”

Fred heard some shuffling and muffled voices before he heard Hiro say, “Hi Fred!”

“Hey little buddy listen, Tadashi’s not feeling good so you’ll need to go with Hera okay?” 

“Dashi’s not feeling good?” Hiro asked, sounding concerned. 

“He’s really tired,” Fred sighed. 

“Oh…” Hiro mumbled sadly. “Can you give him a kiss for me?” Fred blushed and stammered,

“Y-y-yea of course.”

“Thanks Fred!”

“No problem have fun okay?” Fred said, grinning.

“Okay bye!” Fred heard a muffled shout and Hera picked up the phone saying, 

“All right well I’ll take Hiro home with me and send you Tadashi the address so he can pick Hiro up whenever he wakes up.”

“Sounds good!” Fred exclaimed. “And thanks again.” 

“It’s no problem,” She assured before hanging up. Grinning, Fred leaned over and kissed Tadahsi’s forehead before settling down on the ground to make sure no one woke Tadashi up. 

\----

Tadashi let out a small groan and tried to cover his ears to block the noise. Why was it so loud in his room? Tadashi tried to grab his pillow to cover his ears but for some reason he couldn’t find it. 

“Tadashi you up?” Fred asked, momentarily confusing Tadashi before he remembered where he was. He was at his school and had fallen asleep. Why was he lying down though? Tadashi slowly opened his eyes and noticed the chair was leaned back with the footrest up. 

“Sort of…” Tadashi said between a yawn, stretching his arms up over his head. Tadashi rubbing his hands over his eyes for a moment saying, “What time is it?” When Fred didn’t immediately answer Tadashi glanced over at him and found he was staring at Tadashi. “Fred?”

“What?” Fred asked, shaking his head. 

“Time?” 

“Oh yea uh six pm…”

“Oh six…s-six!” Tadashi stammered, eyes widening in horror. “Why didn’t you wake me up!” Tadashi frantically stood up and started looking for his keys.

“Tadashi-”

“I need to get Hiro!” Tadashi shouted, “Oh my G- the school is going to kill me! How could I have overslept! Oh social services is going to eat me alive and they’ll ta-”

“Tadashi!” Fred shouted making Tadashi freeze. “Hera picked Hiro up. She called earlier when she realized you hadn’t come.”

“Oh…” Tadashi mumbled, feeling embarrassed. 

“She texted you the address,” Fred added handing Tadashi his phone. Tadashi glanced down and saw Hera did send him a message with an address. 

“Sorry for uh freaking out…” Tadashi mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“It’s okay dude,” Fred assured. “Hera said to get him whenever but I imagine you’d want to get him now.” 

“Yea thanks for taking care of that.” Tadashi said. 

“No problem,” Fred assured. “I’ll see you back home okay? Oh and before you leave, Hiro said to give this to you.” And planted a kiss on Tadashi’s cheek. Tadashi knew he had a ridiculous grin on his face as he walked out of the lab, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

\------

Tadashi found it was a lot easier to follow a GPS while driving a car. Not to mention safer, of course generally in every aspect a car was safer. When he reached the address he parked at the curb and climbed out, instantly noticing the car parked in the driveway. It was nearly impossible not to notice. The car was very obviously a Junker, but the paint job was what caught his attention, bright orange with yellow patters and some parts covered with a black and white checker pattern. That was something you didn’t see every day. 

Tadashi made his way to the front door and reluctantly knocked, double checking his phone to see if he had the right address. Almost instantly shrill barking filled the house followed by a muffled voice saying,

“Chopper down! Down boy!” A minute later Hera pulled open the door holding a very young German Sheppard in her arm. 

“Hello Tadashi! Feeling better?” Hera asked with a warm smile.

“I’m awake so I’d say so,” Tadashi informed her with a nervous laugh. 

“Well I’m glad. Would you like to come in?” Hera asked, stepping aside and holding the door more open.

“Oh um sure…” Tadashi awkwardly said, stepping inside. Hera then shut the door and set the dog, Chopper Tadashi assumed, down. “So um…”

“The car is my daughter Sabine’s work and we didn’t name Chopper. We don’t know who first called him that but he will not respond to anything else. He’s being trained by my husband to be a police dog.” 

“Oh…” Tadashi said, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

“Sorry those are usually the first two questions people ask.” Hera explained. 

“Ah,” Tadashi said, feeling slightly less uncomfortable. “Thank you so much for taking Hiro. It helped out a lot. I really hope he wasn’t any trouble-”

“No, no he wasn’t at all. In fact he was a big help,” Hera admitted.

“He was?”

“Yea, when he finished his homework he helped Ezra with his. Got him to finish in half the time he usually does,” Hera explained with a smile. “I even checked his work and it was all correct.”

“Well I’m really glad to hear that,” Tadashi admitted. 

“If you would like, I can bring Hiro over and watch him for a few hours after school every day.” Hera offered. 

“No, no thank you no,” Tadashi quickly said. “I mean not that I don’t trust you but, I-I can’t do that to you!” 

“I honestly don’t mind,” Hera assured. “In fact, it might help me out a lot.”

“How so?” Tadashi asked. 

“Like I said earlier Hiro helped Ezra get his work done faster. And no Hiro didn’t do it for him I was watching them work; Hiro got Ezra to do his work with no fuss and helped him get it done right the first time. I was thinking of getting Ezra a tutor but I may have found one that he would like to work with…if that’s okay with you.”

Tadashi thought about it for a minute. On the one hand, it would make his life so much easier if he didn’t have to leave school to get his brother. On the other he’d hate to owe someone else.

“I really don’t want to trouble you…” Tadashi finally said. 

“I promise it’s no trouble!” Hera assured. “Getting Hiro to help with homework would be a big help honestly.”

“I-If you’re sure and Hiro’s okay with that…” Tadashi sighed. 

“I am sure,” Hera assured. “Let me get the boys.” Hera walked up the stairs calling,

“Hiro! Ezra! Come down please!” A few seconds later they appeared at the top of the stairs.

When Hiro noticed Tadashi he groaned, “Aww…you’re here already?”

“Gee, thanks, good to see you too,” Tadashi deadpanned. Hiro nervously laughed and raced down the stairs saying,

“No I love you Dashi! We were just having fun!” Hiro then wrapped his arms around Tadashi’s leg.

“All right I believe you,” Tadashi said with a laugh. 

“Now boys, we have something we need to talk about,” Hera said when she and Ezra reached the bottom of the stairs. 

“Right, Hiro how would you like to come over most days and help Ezra with his homework?” Tadashi asked. 

“We could do that?” Hiro excitedly asked. 

“Yes but on several conditions,” Tadashi warned. “You need to get your homework done before playing and no distracting Ezra while he’s working. You can help him but no playing until both of you are all done. And I do not want to hear you’re just letting him copy your work.”

“I promise I won’t!” 

“Same goes for you young man,” Hera told Ezra. “No playing until all homework is done and don’t even think about asking to copy Hiro’s work.”

“Okay!” Ezra exclaimed, looking over at Hiro excitedly. 

“It won’t bother you having Hiro help you?” Hera asked.

“No way!” Ezra exclaimed. “He explained it better than Mrs. Mathews.” Tadashi laughed and Hera said,

“Well it looks like we have a deal.” 

“It seems so,” Tadashi said. “And if you no longer can for any reason or need me to take Ezra home just let me know okay?” 

“Of course,” Hera assured. 

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Tadashi said. 

“See you tomorrow,” Hera said.

“Bye!” Hiro said, hugging Ezra.

“Bye!” Ezra said, waving as they walked to Tadashi’s car. Tadashi wasn’t sure Hera understood how much this would help him, but he knew he needed to find a way to thank her somehow.


	20. Chapter 20

Tadashi anxiously paced the courthouse waiting to be asked to enter the court room. His heart was pounding madly in his chest and his palms where sweaty. The waiting was torture, and the room seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. He wanted to rip off his suit that felt like it was suffocating him so he could breathe properly. Tadashi glanced at his watch again, he should have been asked to go in ten minutes ago. What if he was at the wrong place and the police where sent after him and they took Hiro away forever? What if Fred got in trouble too for assisting him…

“Tadashi,” Fred said, stepping in front of Tadashi and taking his hands. “You need to stop pacing before you make a hole into the ground.” 

Tadashi rolled his eyes and grumbled, “It’s not possible to do that.”

“With how much pacing you’re doing you might find a way,” Fred sighed, looking genuinely concerned. “What’s wrong Tadashi? Why are you so nervous?”

“Why shouldn’t I be nervous?” Tadashi snapped. 

“I can’t think of anyone else who could be a better guardian for Hiro then you,” Fred assured squeezing Tadashi’s hands. 

“How do you know?” Tadashi mumbled, looking away from Fred. Tadashi felt Fred grab his face and forced Tadashi to look over at Fred, who firmly said,

“Because there is no one in this entire universe who loves Hiro as much as you do. You’re willing to drop out of your dream college to raise him! You invented a heath care companion to help people! They should be begging you to keep him!” Tadashi doubted they would be begging him to keep Hiro, but Fred’s words did bring a smile back to his face. 

“Thanks Fred….that means a lot…” Tadashi mumbled a feeling of calm washing over him as he looked into Fred’s eyes. 

“You’re welcome,” Fred assured, his thumb caressing Tadashi’s cheek. Tadashi wrapped his arms around Fred’s waist and leaned in to kiss him. The moment their lips touched Hiro started making gagging noises. The pair pulled apart slightly and started laughing as Hiro said,

“Eww! Do you guys have to do that here?” Tadashi and Fred both burst out laughing, their foreheads pressing together. 

“I thought you didn’t mind me dating Fred,” Tadashi finally said. 

“I don’t mind dating but kissing is gross!” Hiro whined. 

“It’s gross huh?” Tadashi asked, a smirk growing across his face. 

“Yes!” Hiro whined. Tadashi suddenly dipped Fred who let out a shout of surprise that Tadashi cut off by pressing his lips firmly against Fred’s. Fred let out a happy moan and tangled his fingers in Tadashi’s hair. Hiro loudly made noises of disgust and covered his eyes. They broke apart laughing and Tadashi lifted Fred back up pecking his lips again. 

Tadashi didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or kiss Fred. Hiro’s disgust maybe should have bothered him but Hiro’s reaction was just too funny. And then there was Fred who was laughing as well and somehow made Tadashi’s fears melt away. Tadashi pulled Fred close laughing and kissing Fred because right then and there he didn’t want to think of anything but Fred and Hiro and how they could make him feel like he was floating. 

“Tadashi Hamada?” A woman asked making Tadashi crash back down to Earth, back to reality. Tadashi reluctantly pulled away from Fred and asked,

“Yes?”

“The judge will see you now.” Tadashi nodded his head as the woman gestured for Tadashi to enter and added, “Hiro will need to sit away from you while the judge is talking.”

“Okay….can he sit in the court room?” Tadashi asked, gesturing over to Fred.

“Yes.” She said. With that she took Hiro’s hand and walked away. Tadashi and Fred reluctantly walked in, Fred sitting back in the main sitting area while Tadashi walked over to where the officer gestured for him to go. Tadashi was surprised to see Professor Callaghan, Heathcliff, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Gogo join Fred and was even more surprised when Bubbles walked in and sat down next to Tadashi. 

“Um…hello…” Tadashi awkwardly greeted. 

“Good morning,” Bubbles stiffly greeted. “I doubt this will take very long. It’s usually pretty quick.”

“That’s…good?” Tadashi uncertainly said. 

“No one wants to be here long and there are lot of trials that need to happen,” Bubbles explained. 

“Makes sense…” 

“All rise for the honorable Judge Brooks.” Tadashi stood as a surprisingly young woman with blond hair made her way up to the stand. 

“You may be seated,” Judge Brooks said as she sat down. “Mr. Bubbles, do you believe Tadashi Hamada can be a good guardian for Hiro Hamada?”

Bubbles slowly stood and said, “Yes I do. Though Tadashi and Hiro’s living situation is…unusual I do believe that for now he has a stable job and has the means to care for all of Hiro’s needs.” 

“Could you clarify these working conditions?” Judge Brooks asked. “Your notes where slightly confusing.”

“I’m not sure how else to explain it other than a very rich man who lives in a very large house hired Tadashi as an on-site repairman somewhat like some hotels do.” 

“Can their really be enough work even in a mansion for him to be kept long term?” Judge Brooks asked.

“Surprisingly yes,” Bubbles admitted. “It’s strange but with a mansion as big as the one Tadashi is working in, I can see how their needs to be a lot of work done on it.”

“Well, I do trust your judgement on this,” Judge Brooks said. “But what about his aunt? Does she want guardianship of Hiro?”

“I spoke with her and she thinks it would be best if Hiro remained with his brother if possible,” Bubbles explained and handed Judge Brooks some paperwork. “She didn’t feel like she had time to come here physically with her working in the café. She did say though that if for any reason Tadashi could not care for Hiro she would be more than happy to take him or even both of them in.”

Judge Brooks inspected the papers for a minute before saying, “These all appear to be in order. But, I would like to question a few people. Robert Callaghan would you please step up to the stand?”

“Of course,” Professor Callaghan said, flashing Tadashi a smile as he walked past. He stepped up to the stand and Judge Brooks asked, 

“Mr. Callaghan, is it true Mr. Hamada has a scholarship for your robotics program at San Fransokyo Institution of Technology?”

“Yes your honor.”

“Has he been doing well in his classes since he started caring for Hiro?”

“Oh yes his work has continued to exceed expectations.”

“Do you think Mr. Hamada is capable of handling raising a child, working and raising a child?”

Professor Callaghan had a sad smile on his face as he said, “Mr. Hamada is probably the best student I have ever had in my program. Not only is he the smartest but also the most dedicated. He loves robotics and he loves helping people. Somehow this brilliant young man was able to combine those two passions to create one of the most brilliant inventions I have seen in my entire time working as a professor. Despite all of his potential though he is willing to give all of that up if it means raising Hiro to the best of his ability.” Professor Callaghan looked over at Tadashi with an apologetic smile on his face as he continued, “There was a part of me that wanted to tell you today that no he is not fit be Hiro’s guardian, honestly this morning I fully intended to say so. But not only would that be a complete lie but very unfair to Mr. Hamada who loves Hiro more than anything. I believe any child would be lucky to have a man like Tadashi raising them.”

“Thank you that is all,” Judge Brooks said. Tadashi could have cried from happiness right then and there. His professor wanted him to keep Hiro. He could hardly believe he heard that. Tadashi didn’t hear Judge Brooks call the next person to the stand, to excited to pay attention to the questions being asked until he heard Heathcliff say,

“Yes there was a small problem with some of the staff but it has been taken care of and will not be a problem in the future.” Problem with the staff? What problem? How had it been ‘taken care of’? Before Tadashi could even think about asking he was dismissed and Judge Brooks called Hiro up.

The woman who took Hiro away earlier helped Hiro up into the stand and the judge asked, “Hiro, do you want Tadashi to be your guardian?”

“Yes,” Hiro said after hesitating for a moment causing Tadashi’s heart to sink. 

“It’s alright if you don’t,” Judge Brooks gently assured. “We understand if you don’t want to stay with him.”

“No, it’s not that,” Hiro said. “I want my mama and daddy to be my guardians and Dashi to be my brother…but they’re gone…”

“Are you worried Tadashi will stop being your brother?” Judge Brooks asked. 

“Yea….Dashi will we still do brother stuff if you’re my guardian?” Hiro asked. Tadashi glanced over at Judge Brooks who nodded her head. 

“Of course buddy!” Tadashi assured. “All this means is that you’ll live with me and I’ll be responsible for taking care of you. I would never ever even dream, of taking mom and dad’s place.”

“Good,” Hiro said, grinning. “Can I stay with Dashi then?” 

Judge Brooks smiled and dismissed Hiro asking, “Does anyone have anything to add?” She paused for a minute but when the room remained silent she said. “Well then I hereby declare Tadashi Hamada as Hiro Hamada’s guardian.” Hiro cheered and raced towards Tadashi who could have fainted from happiness. He couldn’t believe it; he was going to keep Hiro! Tadashi scooped Hiro up into his arms and hugged him tightly. 

“I get to stay with Dashi!” Hiro exclaimed, giggling like mad. Laughing Tadashi kissed Hiro’s cheek as the others ran over to hug Tadashi and Hiro. Somehow Fred managed to wiggle was way in so he was right in front of Tadashi and exclaimed, 

“I told you, you had nothing to worry about!” 

“You were right!” Tadashi agreed, leaning over Hiro to kiss him. Hiro made a noise of disgust, and Wasabi said,

“You’re going to have to get used to that little man!” 

“I thought you would have realized by now they do that a lot,” Gogo added. 

“Never mind! I want to go with Aunt Cass!” Hiro exclaimed. Smiling Bubbles said,

“Sorry kid, you’re stuck with him for life.”

“No!” Hiro melodramatically cried, slumping over in Tadashi’s arm. 

“Wow I didn’t know you could joke!” Tadashi said with a grin. 

Bubbles put on his sunglasses and said, 

“I’ll be checking in every few months to make sure everything is going well. Also you’ll need to file paperwork if you chose to move.” 

“Of course,” Tadashi said. 

Bubbles slipped on his sunglasses saying, “Good day.” As the three of them left the courtroom Tadashi couldn’t help but agree. It was a wonderful day.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has been faithfully reviewing, you guys rock!

Tadashi wished he could have spoken to Professor Callaghan before he left, but he understood his professor probably had a lot to do. Fred suggested they head back to the mansion before heading to the Lucky Cat Café to celebrate. Hiro wanted to head straight there, but Tadashi wanted to get out of his hot and sweaty suit and everyone else wanted to get into something more comfortable as well. When they got back to the mansion Tadashi made a beeline for his room with Hiro in tow to get into more comfortable clothes. 

Tadashi got himself changed and helped Hiro change as well before heading over to Fred’s room to wait for him to finish getting changed as well. Before they could reach Fred’s room though, he ran into Mary who looked furious. 

“Hiro why don’t you go wait by Fred’s room?” Tadashi asked.

“Okay…” Hiro said, looking between Hiro and Mary in concern before running off. Once Hiro was out of ear shot Mary said, 

“You’re a disgusting faggot you know that right?” 

“What did I do to make you hate me so much?” Tadashi groaned. 

“You just got handed this job! How is that fair?” Mary snapped. “You don’t even have to do anything! You just sit around all day getting paid to make out with your boyfriend! I bet that’s why you were really hired! You’re just Fred’s whore!” 

“Is there a problem?” Fred asked from behind Mary who went pale at his voice. 

“N-n-no of course not!” Mary stammered, turning to face Fred who looked thoroughly unconvinced. 

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure I heard you calling Tadashi a whore,” Fred said. He looked furious, angrier then Tadashi had ever seen him. Though he knew Fred was ready to rip her to shreds, Tadashi had enough of other people fighting for him. Tadashi moved to stand next to Fred and placed a hand on his arm saying,

“Babe, I got this,” Fred looked surprised by Tadashi’s tone, but backed down. “Listen, I don’t know what possessed you to think I’m just sitting around doing nothing all day, especially after seeing me getting up at three am to deal with a broken sink that you were there to see me fix. I have been working endlessly to keep my grades up, work and ensure that Hiro can stay with me. No matter how hard I work I’m either sleeping with someone or am just a bum who sits on my ass all day! Well you know what? I am done caring what people like you think. I know I got here because I worked hard. Sure I got some help from friends, but there is nothing wrong with getting help.”

“It’s laz-” Mary argued but Tadashi wouldn’t hear it. 

“No it’s not lazy!” Tadashi snapped. “I once thought it was wrong to ask for help, but I get it now that it’s not. We all need help sometimes, I would have long since lost Hiro without all the help I have been given. I am eternally grateful to every person who was willing to help me and you know what? Fuck anyone who tells me I’m wrong for needing it!” Mary glared daggers at Tadashi before storming off in a huff. 

“That has got to be the sexiest thing I have seen you do!” Fred declared a look of awe on his face. Tadashi faced Fred and admitted,

“I’m not sure how sexy that was, I was terrified.” 

“Which makes you even sexier!” Fred declared, wrapping his arms around Tadashi’s waist and pulling him close. Tadashi wrapped his arms around Fred’s neck and asked,

“Is that so?”

“Most definitely,” Fred assured before kissing him.   
\-------

Tadashi silently worked in his lab, feeling much more alert then before. Ever since the trial Tadashi had not been awoken late in the night to take care of an emergency repair, and was finally getting a goods nights rest. Fred had also convinced him to cut back on time ‘at work’ so he could have some time to relax and enjoy himself. 

“Hard at work as usual I see Mr. Hamada,” Professor Callaghan said, strolling into the lab. 

“Baymax won’t improve himself,” Tadashi said, shrugging. 

“That’s very true.” Professor Callaghan agreed, smiling. 

“Professor….I wanted to thank you for what you said in court yesterday,” Tadashi said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“It was the truth Mr. Hamada,” Professor Callaghan assured. 

Tadashi was momentarily stunned by his professor words. “I uh….thank you…”

“Any time,” Professor Callaghan assured. “I hate to ruin a nice moment but…I would really like to know if you plan to stay in the program.”

A part of Tadashi still wanted to know the answer to that question as well. How many sleepless nights had he spent worry over a project he hadn’t finished? Or spent working on repairs around the mansion? How much had Hiro been neglected in his pursuit of trying to stay both in school and be Hiro’s guardian? Sure he could probably get it all done, but he hardly ever saw Hiro and that wasn’t fair to him. 

“I’m sorry professor but…I’ve been neglecting Hiro trying to stay in school…I just don’t think I can stay…”

Professor Callaghan looked crushed by Tadashi’s words but he said, “I-I’m very sad to hear that…but if you change your mind I really hope you’ll give me a call.” 

“I appreciate the offer but…I really doubt anything could change my mind.” Professor Callaghan let out a heavy sigh before saying,

“I know…but I hope…” With that Professor Callaghan left. Once he was alone Tadashi collapsed into his chair, feeling rotten. This was the right decision…right? He hadn’t really seen Hiro since he started school. How could he in good conscious continue to go to school if he was now Hiro’s guardian? If he was making the right choice though, then why did he feel so miserable? No, he couldn’t worry about his own feelings; Hiro always came first no matter what.


	22. Epilogue

As much as Tadashi tried to tell himself he was making the right choice and everyone would understand, he was having a hard time telling them he made this decision. Every time he went to talk to them about it, he’d chicken out at the last second. How could he keep telling himself he made the right choice though if he couldn’t bring himself to tell everyone he made that choice? If he didn’t tell them soon, they would find out when classes started and he wasn’t there. 

Before he knew it Tadashi was cleaning out his lab after finishing his last final. Thankfully at the end of each semester everyone was expected to clear out their lab so no one questioned him taking everything out of his lab. Once everything was packed, Tadashi collapsed into the rolling chair, feeling empty. He hated to admit it, but the thought of never coming back hurt a lot. He didn’t blame Hiro, he could never blame him, but his heart clenched painfully in his chest when he realized he probably was giving up on all of his dreams. 

Tadashi closed his eyes and thought about Hiro, his big smile, how he loved to build things all the time. Yes he was giving up his dream school, but Hiro was completely worth it. Yes, it still hurt but he had his brother and that’s what mattered. Fred knocked on the door and stepped inside asking,

“Hey you ready to go?” 

Tadashi forced himself to smile and stood up saying, “Yea definitely.”

Fred frowned and walked over to Tadashi saying, “You don’t look okay…”

“I’m fine,” Tadashi assured, Fred saw right through him though.

“You can tell me anything you know,” Fred assured, grabbing Tadashi’s hands and squeezing them. “I promise I’ll still love you no matter what.”

“I know…” Tadashi assured. “It’s just….this isn’t easy to say…”

“What do you mean?” Fred asked, concerned. “You don’t want to…break up do you?”

“No, no! Definitely not!” Tadashi exclaimed. “I’m…worried you’ll be angry though…”

“So what?” Fred asked. “I won’t dump you because I’m angry.” Though Tadashi knew this, deep down he was afraid. Tadashi shoved the dark thoughts out of his mind. Fred wouldn’t treat him differently because of this, Fred was better than that. Tadashi smiled at Fred and said,

“I know….but I really don’t want to explain a million times so can we meet up with everyone then I’ll explain?” 

“Okay,” Fred said. “Let’s go.” 

\-----

After picking Hiro up from school Fred invited the others to meet them at the mansion. They all sat in Fred’s room to have some privacy, Tadashi, Wasabi and Fred where all on Fred’s bad, Tadashi in-between the other two while Honey Lemon and Gogo where sitting in some beanbags while Hiro sat on the floor. Tadashi’s stomach was in knots as the others chatted about how their finals went and their schedules for the following semester. Tadashi wanted to join them, but he was frozen in his seat, heart pounding in his chest, partly wishing they would finish so he could just get this over with, part of him wishing it would never end so he wouldn’t have to tell them. 

He knew Fred and Hiro would treat him the same, he was terrified that Gogo, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi wouldn’t want to be his friend because of this. He didn’t know what he’d do if they stopped talking to him. He knew Fred would still want to hang out with them, how would he handle when they hung out at Fred’s house? Hide in his room? The waiting was killing him. 

“Tadashi, you okay?” Wasabi asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

Tadashi wanted to tell them he was fine and just not tell them he wasn’t going back next semester and let them find out. But that would be so wrong. “No…” Tadashi admitted. 

“What’s going on?” Gogo asked, looking genuinely concerned. 

Tadashi took a deep breath and smiled gratefully at Wasabi when he gave Tadashi’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze and when he felt Fred’s hand taking one of his. “This has not been an easy decision to make…and I really, really wish I didn’t have to make it but…I-I need to do what’s best for Hiro…”

“What are you saying?” Honey Lemon asked, looking frightened. 

“I won’t be going back to school in the spring.” Tadashi admitted, shutting his eyes, bracing himself for the onslaught. 

“Wait you’re dropping out of college?” Gogo exclaimed. 

“You only have three semesters left!” Wasabi added removing his hand from Tadashi’s shoulder. Tadashi didn’t want to admit it, but he felt so much more vulnerable without the contact. 

“How will you get a good job?” Honey Lemon asked. 

“I probably won’t,” Tadashi admitted, looking up at them. 

“But this was your dream,” Gogo said. 

“Hiro’s more important,” Tadashi declared. 

“I thought you were doing okay with school and work?” Honey Lemon asked, looking confused. 

“At the expense of spending any time with Hiro,” Tadashi said. “When I did have a free moment I usually fell asleep.” 

“Getting an education is important though,” Wasabi countered. 

“Dashi…?” A small voice mumbled but it was overshadowed by Gogo saying,

“Tadashi you shouldn’t rush into a decision like this!”

“Dashi-”

“You are throwing everything away!”

“Guys!” Fred snapped, silencing everyone. “This is Tadashi’s decision and we need to respect that.” Fred turned to face Tadashi and said, “Listen…I don’t agree with it but I respect your decision and will completely support you okay?” 

“Thanks…” Tadashi said, smiling gratefully at him. 

“Tadashi I’m sorry…” Honey Lemon sighed. “I just want you to be happy.” 

“I will be,” Tadashi assured. 

“Can I-?”

“Are you sure about this?” Gogo asked. 

“Yes,” Tadashi firmly said.

“Then we should be supporting you…and I do,” Wasabi said, wrapping an arm around Tadashi. 

“Me to,” Honey Lemon added. 

“Same,” Gogo said. 

“Dashi!” Hiro snapped, finally catching everyone’s attention. 

“Yea buddy?” Tadashi asked, tearing his gaze away from Fred to look down at his little brother. Hiro stood up in front of Tadashi and asked,

“Are you dropping out of school ‘cuz of me?” 

“No, no it’s for you,” Tadashi assured picking Hiro up and setting him in his lap.

“That sounds like the same thing…” Hiro guiltily mumbled.

“It’s not!” Tadashi argued.

“How?” Hiro demanded. Tadashi scrambled for an answer but he couldn’t come up with one so he said,

“Look Hiro, I’m not just your brother anymore I’m your guardian so I need to be here more for you.”

“I thought you said nothing would change if you became my guardian?” Hiro asked. 

“Our relationship wouldn’t,” Tadashi corrected. “My dropping out of college doesn’t change you being my little brother.”

“I don’t want you to hate me though!” Hiro exclaimed, tears streaking down his face. 

“Wait no Hiro why would you think I’d hate you?” Tadashi asked, gently whipping away Hiro’s tears. 

“You’re giving up everything for me…” Hiro whimpered. 

“I’m not giving up everything,” Tadashi assured. 

“You had to get a job and you have to give up college so you could keep me!” Hiro exclaimed. 

“You’re worth it,” Tadashi assured. “And to keep you I have to give up things.”

“That’s not fair though!” Hiro cried. 

“I know but…life isn’t always fair…” Tadashi sighed. 

“Did Mr. Bubbles say you had to leave school so you could keep me?” Hiro asked. 

“No…” Tadashi admitted. 

“Then don’t!” Hiro brightly declared. 

“Hiro it doesn’t work like that,” Tadashi groaned. 

“Why not?” Hiro asked. 

“I hardly spent any time with you and in the future I’ll probably miss a lot of important things-” Tadashi explained.

“Mom and dad missed a lot and they didn’t care,” Hiro said. 

“Well that was wrong,” Tadashi informed him. 

“’Sides we get to hang out on weekends and over the summer,” Hiro argued. 

“Yes but-”

“I don’t mind not seeing you as much if you can stay in school.” Hiro said, “I know how important it is for you.” 

“That’s not fair to you though.”

“I thought you said life isn’t always fair?” Hiro asked, smirking. 

“Yes but it’s not your job to give things up for me,” Tadashi countered. “I’m the adult. I need to be the one to give up things for you.” 

“But brothers are supposed to do things for each other and we’re still brothers!” Hiro declared. “Please don’t give up your dream.” 

“I’m not giving up my dream I’m just leaving college,” Tadashi countered, feeling his resolve wavering. 

“How can you fulfill it if you don’t finish college?” Hiro asked. “Mom and dad always said the only way you could do what you wanted is if you went to your school.” Tadashi mentally cursed at this. Why did they have to fill a five year olds head with the importance of college? Tadashi couldn’t deny the truth in his words however. 

“Hiro listen to me, I know you feel strongly about this, but I don’t want you to start to resent me for spending time at college that I could be spending with you,” Tadashi said. 

“But I don’t want you mad at me for making you leave school,” Hiro countered, pouting. Damn it Tadashi thought. This kid was too smart for his own good. 

“Dang the kids good,” Gogo commented with a smirk of her own. Tadashi pressed his forehead against Hiro’s, letting out a heavy sigh. 

“You’re not going to quit are you?” Tadashi asked after a minute.

“Nope!” Hiro happily declared. Tadashi really should not be encouraging his brother being so stubborn, but Hiro caring so much about Tadashi being happy was making his chest feel warm and head feel light. He was sure he would start floating. 

“All right,” Tadashi finally said. “You win.”

“Are you going back to school?” Honey Lemon asked, eyes brightening. 

“I guess so,” Tadashi laughed before kissing Hiro’s forehead. Honey Lemon cheered and clumsily got to her feet before tightly hugging Tadashi. Fred and Wasabi excitedly followed suit and Tadashi was sure Gogo was somewhere in the mix. In the center Tadashi heard Hiro voicing him complaints about being squished but Tadashi could tell he was happy as well. 

Tadashi knew that there would be more ups and downs and that there would be fights and moments of regret, but for right now everything was fine. And that’s all that mattered.

\---

In a secret room that only a very select few people knew about Mr. Lee sat in a chair, staring off into the distance, a look on intense concentration on his face. He was still wearing his super suit after an intense fight earlier that day. Evil didn’t stop just because the Holidays where near. This fight had almost gotten really bad, far worse than any fight he’d been in a long time. He’d barely made it out with his life. 

The experience made him think about his son and what would happen to him should he die while fighting. How would Heathcliff explain his death to Fredrick? How would he feel finding out his father was a super hero after dying? It was a thought that did not sit well with Mr. Lee. 

“Ah Master Stan so good to see you home,” Heathcliff said as he walked into the room. Mr. Lee didn’t immediately say anything, too lost in thought. After a minute of silence he finally said,

“I think it’s time.” Heathcliff stared at Mr. Lee for a moment before asking,

“You wish to tell Master Fredrick?” 

“And Mr. Hamada.” Mr. Lee added. 

“Mr. Hamada?” Heathcliff curiously asked. 

“Yes…I think he could help…” Mr. Lee admitted. 

“Is that why you brought him?” Heathcliff asked. 

“No, but…after doing a bit of research I think he can.” Mr. Lee admitted. 

“Shall I go fetch them?”

“No,” Mr. Lee said. “Not yet. But soon…very soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This has been one wild ride but, I hope, a fun one!! If people are actually interested in the sequel I hope to have it all finished in the next few weeks and hope I can start posting as well. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this fic and thank you to everyone who reviewed!


	23. SEQUAL!!!

So I know their is a way to make multiple fics into a series or something but I sadly do not have time to figure it out right now. So for those of you who where super excited about the sequel http://archiveofourown.org/works/5031943 hope you guys enjoy!!!


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